ESPN's Fowler: College Football Could Be Delayed Until Spring
As of Monday, there were 138 days until East Carolina and Marshall are scheduled to play the first game of the college football season on August 29.
That might sound like a long time, especially for sports-starved fans desperate for any kind of live event to watch on television or in person. But as pointed out by Chris Fowler, the former host of ESPN's College GameDay, the time to make a decision on whether the 2020 season should start on time -- or be played at all -- is rapidly approaching.
In a seven-minute video posted to his Instagram account, Fowler said he expects that decision to come by the end of May.
While is said he "convinced" that the season will eventually be played -- a financial necessity for all college athletics as we know them -- he added his "informed speculation" that it might take some creative adjustments for it to happen.
He laid out three possible scenarios for how the season could be played.
“The first scenario is the season starts on time and the season isn’t altered much,” Fowler said. “Time is running out, though, unless you think 4-6 weeks is a whole lot of time. Because I’m told by the end of May, there has to be clarity and if you are going to have college campuses open, which you will have to bring the players back, that’s about the deadline to get things going on time.”
Since the clock is ticking fast on the potential for that happening, Fowler added two other possibilities.
“Scenario 2, the season starts late and maybe gets shortened a bit,” Fowler said. “Maybe you get going in November and you go through January and have to reshuffle the Playoff. To me, that sounds problematic. People are worried about a second wave of this virus coming back when the temperatures up north turn colder. You want to start a season then have to shut it down? To me, that would be disastrous.”
The the third and final alternative is the most unconventional, Fowler believes that it might be the most practical in the long run.
And according to his video, it's "gaining momentum -- which may sound preposterous on the surface but I think a lot of reasonable people feel like it might be the most prudent course of action, and that is football in the spring.”
“Beginning some point in February, getting into March, April, May, maybe have the postseason in June," Fowler said. "That would have to be reshuffled a bit, it would be bizarre, it would wreak havoc on some other sports in that time of year. But to avoid the financial disaster of having no football in the academic year, I think it might be a fallback position.”
NC State is scheduled to open the 2020 season at ACC rival Louisville on Thursday, Sept. 5.
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