ESPN: Big 12's Bob Bowlsby fears virus may come 'roaring back,' disrupt season

[TopFrog]

ESPN: Big 12's Bob Bowlsby fears virus may come 'roaring back,' disrupt season

Sam Khan Jr.
ESPN Staff Writer

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Thursday that he's optimistic about college football starting on time or close to it, but is skeptical of being able to go through the entire season without disruption because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bowlsby, in a 28-minute interview on SiriusXM Big 12 radio, discussed his concerns, potential scenarios and the adjustments schools need to make to play the season. Among his top concerns is whether it's possible to make it all the way to the College Football Playoff without having to stop the season.

Read more at https://www.espn.com/college-footba...-fears-virus-come-roaring-back-disrupt-season

 

[Casey T]

scheiss off bowlsby, the truth is nobody knows what will happen so stop feeding this negative hype train

 

[jake102]

The truth is that there are going to be coaches, players and other people who get COVID19 during the season. It is going to happen. It wouldn't shock me if 25% or more of some team all gets it.... and that's OK as long as you are ready for that possibility. No need to panic and pause the season, deal with it like anything else and keep moving.

 

[Wexahu]

The truth is that there are going to be coaches, players and other people who get COVID19 during the season. It is going to happen. It wouldn't shock me if 25% or more of some team all gets it.... and that's OK as long as you are ready for that possibility. No need to panic and pause the season, deal with it like anything else and keep moving.

Yep, if we can't get past the "oh my god, player x tested positive!" stage, they should just cancel the season now and save everyone a bunch of wasted time and energy.

 

[jake102]

Yep, if we can't get past the "oh my god, player x tested positive!" stage, they should just cancel the season now and save everyone a bunch of wasted time and energy.

Yep. The NBA should have never stopped playing, just stopped allowing fans in attendance. They only have what 12 players on the team? Total of 25 personnel per team maybe? I'm somewhat shocked they haven't figured out a start date with/without fans since they are in the middle of season

 

[Pharm Frog]

scheiss off bowlsby, the truth is nobody knows what will happen so stop feeding this negative hype train

Agree. I read that early this morning and all I could think of was “what a crappy leader”. Does he really feel the need to unload his entire contingency risk register to ESPN?

 

[jake102]

Yep, if we can't get past the "oh my god, player x tested positive!" stage, they should just cancel the season now and save everyone a bunch of wasted time and energy.

Probably cancel all major sports forever

 

[BrewingFrog]

Gee! Teams have never, ever, had flu outbreaks during the season. Or stomach issues. Not ever!

 

[BrewingFrog]

Agree. I read that early this morning and all I could think of was “what a crappy leader”. Does he really feel the need to unload his entire contingency risk register to ESPN?

To be fair, ESPN did play the Chinese National Anthem before all their programming, just to be on the safe side...

 

[DickBumpastache]

The truth is that there are going to be coaches, players and other people who get COVID19 during the season. It is going to happen. It wouldn't shock me if 25% or more of some team all gets it.... and that's OK as long as you are ready for that possibility. No need to panic and pause the season, deal with it like anything else and keep moving.

So if a kid - or a coach/staff member - gets this virus and dies, we’re just going to keep playing through it? Because it’s next to impossible to believe that multiple people on multiple teams will catch it, yet the survival rate will be 100%. Right now the CFR is the US is between 5-6%, and that is with the entire country essentially locked down.

I’m hopeful that remdesvir is a breakthrough toward treatment and that somehow a vaccine is developed before the fall...but that is an extreme longshot. To advocate playing through a pandemic with an as-yet untreatable virus seems...crass, to say the least. The liability issues alone would bring this whole thing to a halt; forget about the moral/ethical dilemmas.

 

[Wexahu]

So if a kid - or a coach/staff member - gets this virus and dies, we’re just going to keep playing through it? Because it’s next to impossible to believe that multiple people on multiple teams will catch it, yet the survival rate will be 100%. Right now the CFR is the US is between 5-6%, and that is with the entire country essentially locked down.

I’m hopeful that remdesvir is a breakthrough toward treatment and that somehow a vaccine is developed before the fall...but that is an extreme longshot. To advocate playing through a pandemic with an as-yet untreatable virus seems...crass, to say the least. The liability issues alone would bring this whole thing to a halt; forget about the moral/ethical dilemmas.

Seems like something that could be addressed but maybe not.

By the way, the CFR rate isn't close to 5-6%, that's pretty much universally agreed upon. For healthy people under 25 you could probably add at least a couple decimal points and maybe more.

 

[Casey T]

So if a kid - or a coach/staff member - gets this virus and dies, we’re just going to keep playing through it? Because it’s next to impossible to believe that multiple people on multiple teams will catch it, yet the survival rate will be 100%. Right now the CFR is the US is between 5-6%, and that is with the entire country essentially locked down.

I’m hopeful that remdesvir is a breakthrough toward treatment and that somehow a vaccine is developed before the fall...but that is an extreme longshot. To advocate playing through a pandemic with an as-yet untreatable virus seems...crass, to say the least. The liability issues alone would bring this whole thing to a halt; forget about the moral/ethical dilemmas.

With the mortality rate likely around 0.0025 (0.25%) and the great physical shape and health of the players, I don't see any players dying. The coaches are a different story. Why can't we allow the coaches who are willing to accept the risk do so, and those who don't can stay quarantined for another 18 months? We get to watch football, and the coaches with health risks can stay safe at home. The alternative is everyone stays at home.

 

[berryfrog95]

....it didn’t come roaring in the first place;

 

[TopFrog]

Right now the CFR is the US is between 5-6%, and that is with the entire country essentially locked down.

It is nowhere near that. With the millions of infections we know about in people who either did not develop symptoms or had symptoms so mild they did not seek treatment, it is more like 0.05%. It is much higher in the 65 and older age group, which makes up three-fourths of the deaths. I believe I was exposed in January when I had a second flu-like illness that was worse than the first one (which came after my annual flu shot).

 

[jake102]

So if a kid - or a coach/staff member - gets this virus and dies, we’re just going to keep playing through it? Because it’s next to impossible to believe that multiple people on multiple teams will catch it, yet the survival rate will be 100%. Right now the CFR is the US is between 5-6%, and that is with the entire country essentially locked down.

I’m hopeful that remdesvir is a breakthrough toward treatment and that somehow a vaccine is developed before the fall...but that is an extreme longshot. To advocate playing through a pandemic with an as-yet untreatable virus seems...crass, to say the least. The liability issues alone would bring this whole thing to a halt; forget about the moral/ethical dilemmas.

Then they need to go ahead and cancel the season now. And we need to adjust to being in the 1940s for the foreseeable future

More college football players will die from untreated/unknown heart disease during workouts than COVID19

 

[DickBumpastache]

By the way, the CFR rate isn't close to 5-6%, that's pretty much universally agreed upon. For healthy people under 25 you could probably add at least a couple decimal points and maybe more.

The CDC has 60,000+ deaths from 1,000,000 cases. “Universally agreed upon” is an enormous stretch on your part. And deaths from COVID-19 are pretty obviously being underreported based on typical casualties from past years...likely by at least 30%. Now you have state governments like FL refusing to even release daily numbers, so if anything, the numbers will be skewed optimistically.

But the math becomes irrelevant if someone involved in the game dies. The NBA had at least 10 teams report players/staff with positive tests, at a time when tests were nearly impossible to acquire, and they shut down the second the first positive test was reported. If they had kept playing, every team would have been affected. And they only have 15 guys per team; not the 100+ you’re talking about in CFB.

 

[WhiteHispanicFrog]

 

[Eight]

The truth is that there are going to be coaches, players and other people who get COVID19 during the season. It is going to happen. It wouldn't shock me if 25% or more of some team all gets it.... and that's OK as long as you are ready for that possibility. No need to panic and pause the season, deal with it like anything else and keep moving.

this is the big key and something schools, teams, fans, admin etc.. as just going to have to accept

people are going to get the virus once they go back to school, teams play etc...

 

[jake102]

The CDC has 60,000+ deaths from 1,000,000 cases. “Universally agreed upon” is an enormous stretch on your part. And deaths from COVID-19 are pretty obviously being underreported based on typical casualties from past years...likely by at least 30%. Now you have state governments like FL refusing to even release daily numbers, so if anything, the numbers will be skewed optimistically.

But the math becomes irrelevant if someone involved in the game dies. The NBA had at least 10 teams report players/staff with positive tests, at a time when tests were nearly impossible to acquire, and they shut down the second the first positive test was reported. If they had kept playing, every team would have been affected. And they only have 15 guys per team; not the 100+ you’re talking about in CFB.

So what's your solution? Like walk this thing out 6 months, 12 months, 18 months.... what's going to change? A magical cure?

 

[DickBumpastache]

So what's your solution? Like walk this thing out 6 months, 12 months, 18 months.... what's going to change? A magical cure?

I can’t tell you what’s going to happen 10 minutes from now, forget 6 months. I think there will be a season this year...but my point is that if this virus claims the life of a player or coach without there being a known cure or vaccine, the season is over.