It may not be the science or protection of players that determines the resolution of a conference to play school football in the coronavirus pandemic. On the contrary, it turns out that the resolutions to be played can be aligned with the political association of each region.
The Southern-based Power Five conferences, governed through the red states, are in a position for football in 2020. Conferences with schools in the blue east and west states and the battlefield states that support Democrats have postponed fall sports.
The Pac-12, which announced Tuesday that it would play football this year, is governed by the Blue States. Eight of the conference’s 12 schools play in California, Oregon and Washington. If Joe Biden wins Arizona, where the most recent FiveThirtyEight election style says the alleged Democrat nominee has a slight advantage, Utah may be the only Pac-12 school to play in a state that President Donald Trump won in November.
The Big Ten has become the first Power Five convention to cancel fall school football. At a 14-team convention, only Nebraska, Indiana, Purdue, and Iowa are located in strongly red states. Trump is more likely to defeat Biden in Ohio, but the state that houses the Ohio State Buckeyes is necessarily a draw, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The trend is the same for small matches that will play football in 2020.
The Big East and the Ivy League, both located in the North East Blue, canceled autumn sports. The Mountain West also postponed its school football season with 75% of its Blue States groups. The Mid-American Conference, basically composed of ohio and Michigan schools, was the first FBS convention to exclude the football option this year.
The University of Connecticut, which does not belong to a conference, is the first FBS school to cancel its upcoming football season.
– Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) 13 August 2020
Meanwhile, the Big 12, sec and CCA are advancing plans to start the school football season in September.
Every Big 12 school is in a red state. There are 14 groups in the SEC, and they’re all in states that Trump won in 2016.
The ACC is more varied with Syracuse and Boston College located in two of the bluest states in the country. Virginia, home to two ACC schools, is blue and Pittsburgh plays in a state where Biden leads. Half of the convention groups are placed in Republican strongholds, and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has even said he will host the convention players who canceled the season. HOLIDAYS; Miami and Florida State play in the state of DeSantis.
“These scholars are running all their lives to get to this point and, you know, they’ve taken the season,” DeSantis told reporters this week. “There’s never anything you do in life that’s absolutely risk-free. I think the risks, in this case, for them are very low, but I think they can make that assessment for themselves.”
If school football meetings close, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) suggests that he would “welcome his players to the state of Florida.” pic.twitter.com/B1j2YgjfMJ
– Count (@therecount) 11 August 2020
DeSantis is one of the few prominent Republicans who have strongly supported the existing school football season. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse sent a letter to the presidents of the Big Ten calling for them not to cancel the season, Sports Illustrated reported. Vice President Mike Pence of Indiana tweeted that the country “needs school football.”
Trump said the cancellation of the season would be a “tragic mistake” because the top players are young and healthy enough to take over the coronavirus without getting seriously ill.
“You probably wouldn’t see other people die,” Trump said Tuesday in Outkick the Coverage.
While the coronavirus mortality rate among college-aged academics remains low, meetings are held on the possible long-term effects the virus may have on student-athletes. Myocarditis, an inflammation of the central muscle that has also been linked to COVID-19, has been discovered in at least five Big Ten players, reportedly.
The 3 Power Five matches that advance with the season can ensure player protection with the protocols they’ve put in place.