We don't need college sports right now

I'm going to state this right off the bat for this article, this is a little more of a rant than my usual articles and also a lot more serious. As a former athlete, I feel a need to talk about this topic of college sports postponing (not canceling) their fall sports seasons until the spring.

Now the reason for this postponement is the Coronavirus. The Big 10 and Pac-12 have pushed their football seasons back to the spring, but the rest of the Power five conferences (ACC, Big 12 and SEC) are going forward, and as of writing, the MAC and Mountain West have also postponed fall sports and the schools of Old Dominion University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts and New Mexico State University have announced that they will also not be holding fall sports. That's over 41% of the teams at the FBS level. And, from my count, four schools that have decided to have fall sports have had Coronavirus outbreaks on campus. Those schools are Florida Atlantic University, the University of Notre Dame, East Carolina University and North Carolina University. FAU, Notre Dame and ECU all have had players text positive for the virus. This has not only put the other players at risk but the coaching staff and the coaching staffs family members.

Players from schools that have postponed their season have spoken out about wanting the season to happen, and as a former athlete, I know where they are coming from. As an athlete you have a passion for your game and want to play it no matter what. I would know this since I have played through injuries. I dislocated my middle finger on my right hand after a second down play, relocated it in the huddle and kept playing in the game. I also dislocated my AC joint in my right shoulder during wrestling season and wanted to wrestle on it. However, the doctors told me not to and I listened. That is what athletes need to do right now and listen to the medical professionals and not play during this pandemic.

Conferences putting their students out their to play a sport is selfish and needs to be addressed. This is something that these conferences don't seem to realize. These kids are barley old enough to vote and most aren't even old enough to legally drink, yet they want to put them out on a field to play while a virus that is still very potent and is being spread on campuses that are having classes on campus. The Coronavirus is still a very serious threat and conferences and schools not taking it seriously is a very foolish thing.

The schools aren't out of blame here either. My brother got lucky with all of his courses being online this semester, but other students aren't as lucky. Having the student athletes and other students interact in class is a horrible decision as well. You have these student athletes traveling to other schools to play these games, and have them running the risk of catching the virus and spreading it to other students and faculty at their school.

Yet, some schools have gone on the record for saying that they need college sports from a financial point of view, which is a very selfish way to look at things. To explain, let me look at it from the college that I graduated from, Cleveland State University. According to USNews.com, Cleveland State had an enrollment number of 12,248. The most I was ever charged for tuition was $5,317 while living off campus. Now according to the USNews.com entry for Cleveland State, in-state tuition is $10,880 while out of state tuition is $15,054. Now doing the math, Cleveland State is looking at getting roughly $133,258,240-$184,381,392 a semester. Now these are going off of rough figures, but that is at least a rough average of just one school. There are schools all across the nation getting roughly that if not even more. For a school to say that they can't survive off of roughly $100,000,000 what does that say about those universities. You are saying that these students, who don't get paid for playing their sport mind you, are the only think keeping your university afloat.

I do believe that colleges and conferences that are continuing their fall sports seasons are making a horrible call, especially since these players aren't being paid to play. This might be a bit of a messed up take to have on the issue, but it is a thought that has crossed my mind more than a few times. If one of these players that catches the Coronavirus and dies from it, it seem highly unlikely that the schools would help the families pay for their funerals or help the families through the time. If colleges can't operate without the funds from college sports (while still earning hundreds of millions of dollars), how can they help the families of the athletes?

We as fans need to take a stand and make it known that we don't need to see fall sports. The Coronavirus is something that we need to take seriously and take every precaution possible. We are not out of the woods with the disease and having college sports take place this fall is not a part of the solution. Conferences aren't only putting their student athletes at risk, they are putting the rest of the school at risk. Other students, staff and their families are running the risk of catching the virus due to the players traveling to other schools for games. And colleges can survive without sports, especially when classes are still happening online and charging students the same amount for tuition. What we need to do is put fall sports on pause, then reevaluate where we are with a vaccine and treatment/transmission of the Corona Virus and then decide if sports like football should go on or not.