Will there be a basketball season, if no fans are allowed in the stadiums?

[Jaker]

Beginning to look like a real possibility.

 

[Drew]

its the same answer as football. if students aren't allowed on campuses nationwide (looking like no chance for fall 2020) there won't be college sports.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

No one knows the answer to this at this point. It's useless to speculate.

 

[UKemba15]

No one knows the answer to this at this point. It's useless to speculate.

Wild speculations and overreactions are the lifeblood of The Boneyard.

 

[phillionaire]

If it's too dangerous for fans to show up, it's too dangerous for unpaid student athletes to play and travel.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

its the same answer as football. if students aren't allowed on campuses nationwide (looking like no chance for fall 2020) there won't be college sports.

There’s no chance students are on campus in fall 2020 NO CHANCE!?! LESS THAN ZERO?!?! I can tell how smart you are based on how long you predict social distance measures will last. You seem very smart.

 

[Waterbury]

dont even talk like that i need to be screaming my drunken lungs out in the xl center this winter

 

[Lefty2one]

I'm more curious about how many fans will actually show up once they're allowed back in arenas. Even if everything is back to "normal" by the fall I'm not sure I'll be going to any sporting events for the 2020-21 season.

Surely the diehards and people who think COVID-19 is a hoax will be lining up on the first day, but I don't think arenas/stadiums will be full right off the bat.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Yes. College basketball will be played for 2020-2021.

 

[krinklecut]

There’s no chance students are on campus in fall 2020 NO CHANCE!?! LESS THAN ZERO?!?! I can tell how smart you are based on how long you predict social distance measures will last. You seem very smart.

Do you see some pathway to having traditional college campuses that the rest of the world doesn't see?

Without a vaccine, robust antibody testing, and reliable contact tracing, students will not be back on campus. Those things are not going to be ready by the fall semester.

 

[8893]

right off the bat.

Pun intended?

 

[Scoe]

I just take things day to day and don’t predict anything. My best advice to everybody shut up and see what happens.

 

[8893]

I just take things day to day and don’t predict anything. My best advice to everybody shut up and see what happens.

Never been a better time for the Serenity Prayer, which I find myself saying a few times a day lately.

 

[Vuce]

Without a vaccine, robust antibody testing, and reliable contact tracing, students will not be back on campus. Those things are not going to be ready by the fall semester.

This is a good point but with the regular flu we have an annual vaccine and tens of thousands of people die from the condition each year. So, even with a vaccine it stands to reason that plenty of people will still pass away from COVID. So do we just stay hunkered down for years? It's an honest question. Basically you can never be around people until the deaths are down to zero? Cuz that isn't happening and if that is the case then what is an acceptable number?

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Never been a better time for the Serenity Prayer, which I find myself saying a few times a day lately.

This place gives great guidance as to why it was written to build upon a foundation of wisdom, and ample indication that many minimize, forget, or ignore this.

 

[Drew]

There’s no chance students are on campus in fall 2020 NO CHANCE!?! LESS THAN ZERO?!?! I can tell how smart you are based on how long you predict social distance measures will last. You seem very smart.

Nationwide? Yeah there's no chance. Mostly because there's schools already planning online only semesters for Fall 2020:

 

[Drew]

Call with Vice President illuminates unique challenge of sorting out college football

Commissioners continue discussing the season outlook but reiterate that they don't have the options or control that pro sports have.

theathletic.com

We still may be months from any clarity about the fate of the 2020 college football season, but we now have a definitive answer on at least one key element.

On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence, who serves as chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, held a conference call with the conference commissioners who oversee the College Football Playoff. Their primary message: College sports will not return until it’s deemed safe for the general student bodies at their universities to return to campuses.

“We were appreciative of the Vice President really wanting to understand our principles and the considerations we all have in relation to college football coming back,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told The Athletic. “Until our universities feel it’s safe for students to come back to campus and participate in activities, there won’t be an opportunity for sports. That’s the fundamental difference (versus professional sports).”

“Our players are students,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told CBS Sports after the call. “If we’re not in college, we’re not having contests.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is from yesterday. They aren't flying the basketball team to Hawaii or Atlantis in November to play tournaments or playing football games in October on empty college campuses. The only hope is either a delayed or shortened season beginning in February or so when we have a vaccine, but even then semesters will have started, most likely online only still for certain universities.

The Mayor of Los Angeles yesterday said there will be no concerts or sports in Los Angeles until 2021. Anyone that thinks the season is starting on time per usual is in for a rude awakening.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

This is a good point but with the regular flu we have an annual vaccine and tens of thousands of people die from the condition each year. So, even with a vaccine it stands to reason that plenty of people will still pass away from COVID. So do we just stay hunkered down for years? It's an honest question. Basically you can never be around people until the deaths are down to zero? Cuz that isn't happening and if that is the case then what is an acceptable number?

Yours is a reasonable if premature curiosity.

One thing I can offer is that in recent years, I have shifted from a personally self-confident laxness regarding an annual flu shot toward realistic recognition that my flu shot is a contribution to a greater good beyond myself.

We are witnessing with COVID-19 a similar risk-benefit tension and lack of clarity that certain recommended measures are for the purpose of not endangering others more so than specifically protecting ourselves from dangers that might not deeply or directly threaten us.

 

[Kitaman]

Was at Yankee Stadium and you are sitting on top of one another shoulder to shoulder. I'm sure hundreds of stadiums, including amateur ones are similar.

Not sure if fans love their teams/sport that much to risk their health. With that said athletes need fans more than we fans need athletes. So empty stadiums would not only be awkward, but also uninspiring (think TV).

 

[Jbirdp5]

I think it is premature to say it definitely won’t happen, but it certainly is a very real possibility. My hope is they find a treatment that is so effective that the risk with covid drops significantly. With so many companies working on treatments and vaccines I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that this happens. I don’t think I’d bet on it tho

 

[8893]

This is a good point but with the regular flu we have an annual vaccine and tens of thousands of people die from the condition each year. So, even with a vaccine it stands to reason that plenty of people will still pass away from COVID. So do we just stay hunkered down for years? It's an honest question. Basically you can never be around people until the deaths are down to zero? Cuz that isn't happening and if that is the case then what is an acceptable number?

You have answered your own question: an "acceptable" number is the death rate associated with the flu, for which we have a vaccine. We do not have a vaccine for this yet, nor do we have nearly enough reliable data to have anything close to a valid death rate.

What we do know is that an extreme national shutdown the likes of which no one has ever seen has only been able to put us on track for a number of deaths that appears comparable to the number we expect from the flu. It stands to reason, imo, that the removal of that shutdown before there is a either a vaccine or herd immunity will result in a significant increase in the number of deaths, to a point that is unacceptable.

The alternative would be widely-available testing both for the virus and for antibodies, accompanied by a plan for contract tracing and isolation. I don't believe our current government intends to devote the resources or time necessary for this alternative.

 

[Hurleyman216]

It’ll be very interesting to see how these very liberal universities deal with this when it starts impacting them financially. I think we’re more likely to see some sort of middle ground with smaller class sizes for in-person classes supplemented by online courses. Universities make a ton of $$ off of housing so I’ll be shocked if they don’t open up at all. Universities are lagging behind companies in terms of feeling the pain of this, but decisions will have to be made soon enough.

The other likely influence in this is public K-12 schools in the U.S. there’s almost no way that those can continue remotely into Fall or next year because it will cripple the economy. People are not going to quit their paying jobs so that they can stay home and teach their kids while the teachers stay home and get paid, it just isn’t happening.

All the models of the virus suggest that late May to early June businesses will be re-opening. There will be a “new normal” for the next 6-12 months until there is a vaccine, but the reality is we will all mostly have to accept that there will be some risk to do the things we need to do to make a living and survive. If anyone thinks the US will just stay shut down for 6-12 months over this I can tell you right now that isn’t happening.

 

[superjohn]

I'm more curious about how many fans will actually show up once they're allowed back in arenas. Even if everything is back to "normal" by the fall I'm not sure I'll be going to any sporting events for the 2020-21 season.

Surely the diehards and people who think COVID-19 is a hoax will be lining up on the first day, but I don't think arenas/stadiums will be full right off the bat.

If people knew how incredibly low the mortality rate is for everyone who isn't old or has heart disease, respiratory disease, or diabetes then they would probably be out in droves when things open back up. A plan should always be focused around protecting that segment of society.

It's strange we keep hearing 12-18 months for a vaccine. They don't know if it's 12-18 months, 3 years, 5 years and beyond. One thing we do know is we can't hide from this forever.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Did Liberty actually already go back on campus? Did that happen?

 

[CL82]

The alternative would be widely-available testing both for the virus and for antibodies, accompanied by a plan for contract tracing and isolation. I don't believe our current government intends to devote the resources or time necessary for this alternative.

Fauci has said that that is exactly the plan once we work through this initial burst. I'm paraphrasing but essentially he said the current shutdown is needed to prevent overwhelming our healthcare system. Once the active cases drop and hospital beds free up contract tracing and isolation is the game plan. That's just my recollection from when I was actually paying attention to the daily briefings. I'm not sure if that position has evolved.

It's strange we keep hearing 12-18 months for a vaccine. They don't know if it's 12-18 months, 3 years, 5 years and beyond.

Again I believe that that Fauci said that a possible vaccine exists and is in testing. IIRC, March 2021 was the date that it would available. Again, though, this is old news and, much like recruiting, the COVID-19 crisis is fluid.