Gloom and doom speculation

Tampa Jacket

Helluva Engineer
Joined
Dec 27, 2018
Messages
2,146
I don't believe that COVID-19 will have a long-term catastrophic effect on sports generally, I think a 1-2 season hiatus is the worst case scenario, but for American football specifically I can imagine a scenario where this is the beginning of a slowly approaching end.

Football is already under siege due to (perhaps legitimate) health concerns. Recently parents have been less likely to enroll their kids in football. I think there is a possibility that a hiatus will hurt sports already on a decline (football) more than sports on the upswing (soccer).

Who knows what will happen in reality (maybe COVID-19 dissipates during the summer and doesn't come back), but I wouldn't be surprised if football leagues for kids struggle even more to attract players after a gap. Then that could trickle up to affect future middle and high school teams. If parent and student interest dissipated during that process, the $ could follow 10-20 years down the road.

Any other gloom and doom speculations to entertain us during quarantine?
Embrace the positives, and enjoy the glass half full:

We won’t have to listen to “UGA! UGA! UGA!” or “SEC! SEC! SEC!” this year.
 

gambler

Went all in with 80k
Joined
Mar 14, 2016
Messages
674
$$$. Unless the $$$ goes away football isn't going anywhere or any other sport that makes $$$ for that matter.

Even if football was the deadliest game on Earth, while the $$$ is around some greedy person will be trying to capitalize on it. Be it corporation, coach, or even player.
 

Flywheel

Wait, what year is it?
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
17,891
1-2 SEASON hiatus? I don't think so. TBH I'll be surprised if the 2020 football season even gets interrupted. 2-3 months seems a lot more likely to me.
I think large gatherings of 100 plus won't return until after the next flu season, i.e. baseball 2021. Football may happen, but with empty stadiums.
 

Flywheel

Wait, what year is it?
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
17,891
Georgia State will still be able to play, then.
Imagine the NCAA being asked to bail out athletic programs dependent on 90,000 ticket sales. The other 99% would lose their minds. The season could still happen on TV, but that money is shared.

This has the potential to crush big-budget athletic programs with debt unless they sit on a billion-dollar endowment like Notre Dame.

EDIT: A quick google reveals football ticket sales are about 30% of revenue for Bama's entire athletic department. About 30% is booster donations and 40% is media money.
 
Last edited:

johncu

Dodd-Like
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
9,557
I think large gatherings of 100 plus won't return until after the next flu season, i.e. baseball 2021. Football may happen, but with empty stadiums.
I just find that so hard to envision. This question is obviously from a place of ignorance, but will the virus not have run its course for the most part by then? At least in terms of overwhelming the healthcare system?
 

thegtstunner08

Earl of Cheap Seats and Cold Pizza
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
2,747
Football should be ready for people in the Fall. You guys are drawing worst-case scenario, which I get, however, probably not going to happen.
 

moochie

Varsity Lurker
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
226
I don't believe that COVID-19 will have a long-term catastrophic effect on sports generally, I think a 1-2 season hiatus is the worst case scenario, but for American football specifically I can imagine a scenario where this is the beginning of a slowly approaching end.

Football is already under siege due to (perhaps legitimate) health concerns. Recently parents have been less likely to enroll their kids in football. I think there is a possibility that a hiatus will hurt sports already on a decline (football) more than sports on the upswing (soccer).

Who knows what will happen in reality (maybe COVID-19 dissipates during the summer and doesn't come back), but I wouldn't be surprised if football leagues for kids struggle even more to attract players after a gap. Then that could trickle up to affect future middle and high school teams. If parent and student interest dissipated during that process, the $ could follow 10-20 years down the road.

Any other gloom and doom speculations to entertain us during quarantine?
I've got $3 and a moon pie dat says spring fubol practice is back by may 1. the team that will be ready to go and have plans in place will have a leg up, come septober.
 

GT98

Dodd-Like
Joined
Jan 29, 2002
Messages
4,212
I just find that so hard to envision. This question is obviously from a place of ignorance, but will the virus not have run its course for the most part by then? At least in terms of overwhelming the healthcare system?
Issue being discussed now is that the virus will likely subside during the warmer months, but health care experts are concerned about it coming back in the fall.

Let's hope for the best
 

OldGold1968

Banhammer'd
Ban Hammer'd
Joined
Dec 23, 2017
Messages
190
There is no chance we play football this fall NCAA or NFL. In 2 weeks öööö will hit the fan. This virus has been built up like Ebola on steroids. In the meantime we will see 35% unemployment by mid April. When you have a roach infestation you call Orkin not an arsonist to burn house to ground. That's where we are headed. They will not have a vaccine for at least a year (Lawyers but that's another story). So all we can hope for is increased testing. This won't make this thing go away & the aren't going to play until we have a vaccine. By then President Biden will be housing homeless in the GT dorms.
 

coit

Y’all got any more of that D Fence?
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
87,947
There is no chance we play football this fall NCAA or NFL. In 2 weeks öööö will hit the fan. This virus has been built up like Ebola on steroids. In the meantime we will see 35% unemployment by mid April. When you have a roach infestation you call Orkin not an arsonist to burn house to ground. That's where we are headed. They will not have a vaccine for at least a year (Lawyers but that's another story). So all we can hope for is increased testing. This won't make this thing go away & the aren't going to play until we have a vaccine. By then President Biden will be housing homeless in the GT dorms.
I think I speak for all of the rest of us here at Stingtalk when I say this: Shut the hell up!
 

This is Tucker

Medical redshirt poster
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
236
There is no chance we play football this fall NCAA or NFL. In 2 weeks öööö will hit the fan. This virus has been built up like Ebola on steroids. In the meantime we will see 35% unemployment by mid April. When you have a roach infestation you call Orkin not an arsonist to burn house to ground. That's where we are headed. They will not have a vaccine for at least a year (Lawyers but that's another story). So all we can hope for is increased testing. This won't make this thing go away & the aren't going to play until we have a vaccine. By then President Biden will be housing homeless in the GT dorms.
If we have a president Biden, we'll have bigger problems than a virus pandemic...
 

GT65_UGA89

We’re a Coca-Cola school
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Messages
12,008
There is no chance we play football this fall NCAA or NFL. In 2 weeks öööö will hit the fan. This virus has been built up like Ebola on steroids. In the meantime we will see 35% unemployment by mid April. When you have a roach infestation you call Orkin not an arsonist to burn house to ground. That's where we are headed. They will not have a vaccine for at least a year (Lawyers but that's another story). So all we can hope for is increased testing. This won't make this thing go away & the aren't going to play until we have a vaccine. By then President Biden will be housing homeless in the GT dorms.
 

Tampa Jacket

Helluva Engineer
Joined
Dec 27, 2018
Messages
2,146
There is no chance we play football this fall NCAA or NFL. In 2 weeks öööö will hit the fan. This virus has been built up like Ebola on steroids. In the meantime we will see 35% unemployment by mid April. When you have a roach infestation you call Orkin not an arsonist to burn house to ground. That's where we are headed. They will not have a vaccine for at least a year (Lawyers but that's another story). So all we can hope for is increased testing. This won't make this thing go away & the aren't going to play until we have a vaccine. By then President Biden will be housing homeless in the GT dorms.
On the bright side, if that happen then—- we won’t have to listen to a bunch of obnoxious talk about how The Dawgs’s win it all this year, hear “Go Dawgs!”, watch a bunch of stupid commercials of Kirby riding around in his red Ford pickup truck that is built “Dawg Tough”and listen to agonizing diatribe from the Paul Finebaums of the sports world about how lucky we all are to have the opportunity to watch the greatest collection of football teams in the history of the world called “The SEC” play.
 
Top