COVID-19 Concerns Cancel Season
The Story: With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to surge across the country and no certainty over whether it would be safe to play any games this fall, UConn became the first Division I school to cancel its entire football season when it did so on Wednesday, the scheduled start of training camp.
ALL IN AGREEMENT: As an independent program, the Huskies had the ability to make a call on playing games this season. It seems that choice was made with fairly unanimous consent, with Randy Edsall, athletic director Dave Benedict, president Thomas Katsouleas and, perhaps most importantly, the players all in agreement that games should not be played.
Edsall said over the weekend that players wanted “some assurances that they will be able to do what is necessary to prepare for the season” and that they would have a say in the decision. As part of the formal announcement Wednesday, senior offensive lineman Ryan Van Demark read a statement attributed to the players, who said that “as a team, we are in full support of the decision to not compete in 2020” and that they “came to campus in the beginning of July knowing there would be challenges presented by the pandemic but it is apparent to us now that these challenges are impossible to overcome.”
WHY THE DECISION? First and foremost, it’s hard to guarantee anyone affiliated with the team would remain healthy and avoid exposure to the coronavirus is games were played. Even though no players tested positive after arriving on campus, three of them exhibited symptoms consistent with the virus, meaning they and several others needed to quarantine in compliance with regulations before the determination was made that all was clear.
“I always had doubts,” Edsall said in a conference call on Wednesday. “I remember the day, I’m up on the field and I called [Benedict] and I said, ‘David, there’s no way we can do this. We just can’t get it done.’ Then it was maybe the next day and I’m walking up the hill with the guys and they say, ‘Coach, there’s no way we can play a season.’”
Plenty of schools have had to pause their workouts following positive COVID-19 tests, including Ohio State, Michigan State, Kansas, Kansas State, Indiana and Northwestern. As of Wednesday, Rutgers had 28 players test positive for the coronavirus.
NOBODY’S IMMUNE: Remember, we don’t know what we don’t know with regard to the coronavirus. While younger people seem to have a greater resistance to it, that’s not universal, and some high-level athletes have developed significant illnesses.
- Indiana true freshman offensive tackle Brady Feeney has had trouble breathing and has also developed complications with his heart, which doctors are still examining.
- Jack Allard, the 26-year-old former Bates lacrosse All-American, who was in a coma for 20 days after his battle.
- Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, 27, has not been cleared to play this season after being diagnosed with heart inflammation, one of what medical professionals believe is a lasting effect of COVID-19.
- Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who is 30, said he was praying not to die after his temperature hit 104.5.
That’s to say nothing of the possibility a player can contract the virus and transmit it to a high-risk friend or family member, causing their illnesses.
NO GAMES TO PLAY: Beyond the health aspect, it seemed unlikely the Huskies would be able to play many games anyway. With many conferences revising their schedules so teams would only play conference foes, the Huskies lost games against Indiana, Illinois, Maine and Ole Miss, and it seems unlikely that games at Virginia and North Carolina, who are allowed to schedule one nonconference game, would go ahead as planned. And, with state-mandated travel restrictions in place, games against Old Dominion, Liberty, San Jose State and Middle Tennessee State were unlikely.
Benedict said he had heard from other schools about arranging games to fill their own losses, but given the uncertainty, he made no arrangements. Thus, the Huskies, as of today, faced the prospect of playing only UMass and Army this season.
And for what it’s worth, Edsall was vehement that he’d have made the same call if the Huskies were still playing in the AAC.
WHAT’S THE FALLOUT? Well, there are financial ramifications, of course, that will affect the already struggling athletic department in a big way. Those have yet to be determined, but remember, because of the hastily put-together schedule for the first year as an independent, the Huskies didn’t have any big payments or any guarantee games on the calendar anyway. (Ole Miss was still paying Middle Tennessee State after UConn broke up the teams’ scheduled game.) Media rights contracts with IMG will need to be negotiated, and the Huskies also had an agreement with CBS Sports for some games. Remember, UConn had been losing money on its football program in recent seasons, including $13.3 million last year, so the possibility does exist that the program will lose less money this season by not playing games. It’s unlikely, but possible.
Then, of course, there’s the aspect of players’ eligibility. Nobody yet has any clue what will happen for players, who will remain enrolled in classes, online or in person, and will continue to receive the academic, financial and social assistance they would have had otherwise. Players on teams that play in the spring were granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA, but it’s too early to tell if that will be the case for the fall. And, at the very least, UConn has only nine seniors on its roster, only one of whom has redshirted, and of its 100 players, 57 have a standard redshirt year available. In theory, that’s a good sign for next season.
OUR TAKE: It’s too early to tell whether the decision will be the first in a line of dominos to fall around the country of it the Huskies choosing to play it safe will be an aberration. (If we had to guess, it’s the former.) While the NBA and NHL continue to trumpet their zero positive test results playing in their bubble, MLS and NWSL players, who were also in a bubble, reported positive tests — and we’ve all seen what has happened with the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.
Again, we don’t know what we don’t know, but what we do know shows that the infection rates, not to mention deaths, are continuing to climb. Connecticut, by and large, has been successful in reducing transmission and infections, but it’s not just about that. Can football be played safely? Can college students intermingle safely? Can anyone be safe? It’s all a variable. And as Edsall said, the Huskies are losing money and the chance to play. They’re opting not to lose health or lives. That’s the most crucial aspect of it all.
“I don’t look at it like being the first,” Edsall said. “I look at it as all of us being in a position of leadership and making a decision that we feel was best for us. That’s what I look at it as. That’s why we’re in the positions that we’re in, to make those types of decisions. When you’re in a leadership position, you have to make the decisions for the people you’re leading. The people that we’re leading are the student-athletes, and we made this decision based on their best interest and input from them.
“We don’t even look at the fact that we’re the first one to do it. We just look at it that we’re doing right by young people that we represent.”
