...to start talking about when basketball might resume playing? Once one or two more shoes drop in football, that conversation will pretty much be over for a while, and we'll need to have something else to obsess about.

Under this timeline (looking to finalize/cancel season), we are looking at October until a decision needs to be made. Hopefully, conferences can begin looking at ways to compromise and simplify schedules/travel and have better measures in place so that a college basketball season can begin on-time and uninterrupted (however grim the current landscape appears).

A lot will depend on whether fans would be allowed to attend.

One thing that would be interesting to speculate about is this. If no to football, but yes to basketball, what percentage of the annual media contracts would ESPN and Fox likely agree to pay? Folks have thrown around an estimated 80% - 20% ratio of football value to basketball value, but I suspect that might vary by conference. The question is, by how much?

Nothing will change from now to the start of basketball season....If football is cancelled, then no basketball or other sports.

Basketball will create a different set of problems. Having “bubbles” is a recommended method of managing a basketball season. The NBA is demonstrating how a “bubble” successfully mitigates COVID cases. But “bubbles” are contrary to the normal university set-up. For example - WFU, NCState, UNC, Duke, VT and UVA could create a tight-knit geographic bubble and reduce travel by playing each other more often.

(08-10-2020 10:10 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  Nothing will change from now to the start of basketball season....If football is cancelled, then no basketball or other sports.

Precisely. It's absurd to even think about it. If you can't play football in an empty stadium outside where the air is harder to contaminate than recycled air inside a closed building then there will be no basketball. Baseball which has little contact by comparison to football and basketball, and which is also played outside, is having problems. So the height of stupidity is to assume because of personal preference that basketball somehow will go on.

This is not a regular virus. This virus is believed to cause damage to the bone marrow creating defective blood platelets which cause clotting in minor blood vessels which can lead to necrosis. But likely not while you are young. So if you are young and are not impacted by the respiratory aspects of it, the long term impact from having been infected may not rear its head until your 40's or thereafter when Human Growth Hormone declines and the production of T cells which fight the platelet problem decline. So since researchers are not yet sure about this aspect the young may be more at risk than they know.

(08-10-2020 10:15 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Basketball will create a different set of problems. Having “bubbles” is a recommended method of managing a basketball season. The NBA is demonstrating how a “bubble” successfully mitigates COVID cases. But “bubbles” are contrary to the normal university set-up. For example - WFU, NCState, UNC, Duke, VT and UVA could create a tight-knit geographic bubble and reduce travel by playing each other more often.

The NBA set this up for $180 million dollars. These are just kids playing in college...... a true bubble ain't gonna happen.

(08-10-2020 10:10 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  Nothing will change from now to the start of basketball season....If football is cancelled, then no basketball or other sports.

Absent a vaccine or new treatment being available agree it’s highly unlikely that basketball will be played this year. I do think there is a small possibility were some conferences (P5, BE and maybe a few others) adopt a bubble strategy like the NBA.

There are probably a few sports that might still be able to go on (golf, tennis, skiing, and riffle). With the loss of revenue from football, and basketball, I think most schools would elect to cancel these season and save travel cost.

(08-10-2020 10:34 AM)pki1998 Wrote:  

(08-10-2020 10:10 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  Nothing will change from now to the start of basketball season....If football is cancelled, then no basketball or other sports.

Absent a vaccine or new treatment being available agree it’s highly unlikely that basketball will be played this year. I do think there is a small possibility were some conferences (P5, BE and maybe a few others) adopt a bubble strategy like the NBA.

There are probably a few sports that might still be able to go on (golf, tennis, skiing, and riffle). With the loss of revenue from football, and basketball, I think most schools would elect to cancel these season and save travel cost.

Rifle depends on whether the range is indoors or outdoors. Tennis might work in warm weather areas, but in places needing covered facilities, it might be an issue. Sailing could be another sport that works.

Basketball could be postponed until probably as late as Feb 1 and still be played, even if you just have to go to 20 game conference only type schedules.

The one thing basketball has going for it is ticket incomes for most schools is modest outside of a few mega programs, so no need to worry about a plan to get fans into the arena. And you're only talking about 15 players and 4 coaches. These games could easily be played with fewer than 100 people total in an arena.

March Madness can also be pushed back to May Madness (still leaving 5 months for the offseason). That would mean the conference season would have to be played out in Feburary, March, and part of April, with conference tournaments at the end of April.

(08-10-2020 10:20 AM)otown Wrote:  

(08-10-2020 10:15 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Basketball will create a different set of problems. Having “bubbles” is a recommended method of managing a basketball season. The NBA is demonstrating how a “bubble” successfully mitigates COVID cases. But “bubbles” are contrary to the normal university set-up. For example - WFU, NCState, UNC, Duke, VT and UVA could create a tight-knit geographic bubble and reduce travel by playing each other more often.

The NBA set this up for $180 million dollars. These are just kids playing in college...... a true bubble ain't gonna happen.

The trouble with a bubble concept at the college level is that contact is not limited to team members and related staff. Players are students and will be interacting with other students. As I recall, the NCAA took the position that sports could only be played if there were in person classes. That makes the bubbles huge, and it becomes an insurmountable challenge to protect against COVID 19 infections. It won't happen at the college level.

(08-10-2020 10:20 AM)otown Wrote:  

(08-10-2020 10:15 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Basketball will create a different set of problems. Having “bubbles” is a recommended method of managing a basketball season. The NBA is demonstrating how a “bubble” successfully mitigates COVID cases. But “bubbles” are contrary to the normal university set-up. For example - WFU, NCState, UNC, Duke, VT and UVA could create a tight-knit geographic bubble and reduce travel by playing each other more often.

The NBA set this up for $180 million dollars. These are just kids playing in college...... a true bubble ain't gonna happen.

Right. The NBA spent that much to "bubble" 22 teams, and did that so that it could keep its TV revenue for the playoffs, which is well over $1 billion.

That revenue stream doesn't exist for college conferences. They can't afford a bubble. The most a college basketball team could ever do is limit their schedule to teams within bus range and keep their players inside dorms at home and hotels on the road and prevent them from going out "in public", but they won't do that, either.

(08-10-2020 09:44 AM)ken d Wrote:  ...to start talking about when basketball might resume playing? Once one or two more shoes drop in football, that conversation will pretty much be over for a while, and we'll need to have something else to obsess about.

Is it time for Dandy Don? "Turn out the lights, the party's over...."