Lockdown 2.0
Why the sports world should go into another lockdown as it would be beneficial to everyone in the long run
It is no secret to anyone that the NFL and College Football within the NCAA are both seeing a tremendous rise in COVID-19 cases that are plaguing their respective leagues’ seasons. It is only a matter of time before we see Men's and Women’s College Basketball within the NCAA experience COVID-19 outbreaks that plague their seasons as well. In the NFL and the NCAA, it seems like week after week a big game is getting postponed or a star player has to sit out because of contracting COVID-19.
This is not what anybody wants.
Specifically in the NFL, another outbreak in the Steelers and Ravens locker rooms has caused the league to continuously re-schedule their week 12 matchup originally set for Thanksgiving, now postponed almost a week until today, Wednesday, December 2nd. Since this matchup is highly anticipated, the league does not want to cancel it because not playing the game will result in a loss of money and serious scheduling issues for the rest of the season. However, since the game is scheduled for 3:40 pm eastern time and 12:40 pm pacific time it surely will not result in the viewership the league had previously anticipated. So why is this game going to be played this week when it surely seems irresponsible, considering the outbreak in each locker room is getting worse. Even though the NFL and the NFLPA have agreed upon a contingency plan to shorten the season and start the playoffs early, it seems unlikely the league will gravitate toward implementing that contingency plan regardless of the circumstances. This contingency plan does not include a “bubble” similar to what the NBA implemented to resume its season. But hasn’t a “bubble” been needed the whole time? Everyone and their mom knew that the NFL’s unscrupulous leadership with the refusal to implement a bubble because of a“loss of profits” would result in health and safety issues, scheduling issues, and put the NFL season in jeopardy.
This is not what anybody wants.
The same goes for College Football as President of the NCAA Mark Emmert, his staff, and each conference’s commissioner and their staff has proven to be irresponsible with their handling of the 2020 College Football season. I know that players want to play. I have been an athlete my whole life and understand the competitiveness, drive, and passion to compete at the highest level. I also know that fringe prospects that are hoping to make a splash in their season to enter the NFL draft would have their hopes ruined by a canceled or even shortened season. However, the NCAA and each conference are putting scholarship athletes that have no players union and are not getting paid for their services at risk with no repercussions for the conferences and the NCAA themselves. At least the NFL has a players union and a contingency plan, even if their decisions continue to prove immoral and careless as their plan is far from perfect. What makes the NCAA’s handling of the College Football season even worse is the pressure the College Football Playoff committee is putting on schools to build a solid resume to have a chance at getting into the playoff. Schools not only have to deal with their own spikes in COVID-19 cases that lead to canceled games but also their opponents’ rise in COVID-19 cases which also leads to canceled games. Each conference has at least one or two games being postponed each week, maybe even more than that in some weeks as cases continue to rise tremendously. Again, like the NFL, the NCAA is putting their student-athletes at risk of serious health issues which could be entirely avoided by canceling the season entirely, entering a bubble, and even postponing the season until March when more will be known of the effectiveness of each COVID-19 vaccine being produced. Also, like the NFL, the NCAA only cares about making a profit and is hellbent on finishing the College Football season to at least make some profit regardless of how dangerous COVID-19 is and all of the rising health issues that are present in student-athletes. The same unscrupulous leadership will continue to be present with the handling of the Men’s and Women’s NCAA basketball seasons, as no contingency plan has been put forward with the possibility of further outbreaks.
This is not what anybody wants.
With a virus that has continued to spread, is producing a better resume and continuing to play games in both the NCAA and the NFL good for anybody in the longterm? Absolutely not. Not even the owners. The way leagues are handling COVID-19 should make people sick, considering they are putting lives at risk for a large profit. What happens if a star athlete that makes a sports league an abundance of money is hospitalized and unable to play for the foreseeable future? Not having that star athlete play will result in a loss of profit anyway! The MLB season was no different and they are lucky they finished their 2020 season, considering they had a similar scheduling process to the NFL. With no regular season “bubble”, they saw many outbreaks over the course of the season, resulting in wonky re-structured schedules, rushed games, star players sitting out, but finally implemented a “bubble” for the postseason. However, if the Dodgers did not win game 6, game 7 would have been postponed indefinitely considering Justin Turner had tested positive for COVID-19 during the game. Even in a “bubble” the MLB finishing the season was in jeopardy and players’ health was at risk. They let Turner come back on the field without a mask to celebrate with his teammates even though he still had COVID-19! There was no punishment for Turner or the Dodgers, which further showed that sports leagues and teams could get away with their agendas without any consequences even if players’ health was at extreme risk. The NBA had the only carefully constructed “bubble” with strict rules to maintain safety for all of their athletes. However, they ended up not making as much profit as they had hoped, so even the NBA is going back to playing games in stadiums and traveling across the country. This is going to result in the same rise of cases and outbreaks that the NFL, the NCAA, and the MLB have experienced.
This is not what anybody wants.
There has been unscrupulous leadership in the NCAA, MLB, and the NFL. They have focused on turning a profit rather than maintaining the health and safety of their athletes. Even the NBA, the one league that made the health and safety of the players as important as turning a profit, is moving backward. They are focusing more on turning a profit rather than keeping their players healthy. Now every sports league is moving toward continuous chaos and overlooking the seriousness of COVID-19. Sure the vaccines that are almost complete could change everything and make all sports enjoyable and safe again. However, how do we know that the vaccines are going to be successful right away? To be safe, shouldn’t we postpone all sports again as we did in March until we know that the players and staff members of each team can safely play their games without risking serious illness or even death? Surely, the players association of each league and the league themselves could work out a modified CBA agreement no? Having star athletes and premier coaches going into the emergency room because of a deadly virus just to make more money off one season seems unreasonable and irresponsible no? It could lose leagues and owners more money in the long run, especially if their coach cannot help the team or their star player cannot play a whole season because of contracting COVID-19. I know that sports are a unifier to help bring people together to promote love, camaraderie, passion, and happiness, which is especially needed during a pandemic where depression has raised exponentially in people. However, even with the uncertainties of the vaccines, they are still very promising and could help sports tremendously. It seems like the mixture that sports leagues and owners want, turning a profit while also making sure players and coaches are healthy, is coming sooner than we may anticipate. Even though this decision could alter the yearly schedule of each league forever, sports leagues should definitely consider postponing their seasons until at least March, where more will be known about the spread of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of the vaccines for it. Unfortunately, the trajectory that each league is on seems to head toward ramming through their respective seasons disregarding all of the outbreaks and risks. Because of this, fans and media members need to hold each league accountable for their careless actions and continued focus on turning a profit instead of providing health, safety, and rights to their players and coaches. prominent voices in the media are heard even more than fans since they have a larger platform. Too many times media members try to normalize the NFL, MLB, and College Football seasons which is only re-assuring each league’s decisions to move forward without any consequences. It would be responsible for each league to postpone their seasons until the health and safety of the players and staff members are ensured with better testing, a possible vaccine, and a slower spread of the virus. Fans and media members need to continue to be vocal about the unscrupulous leadership and careless decisions we are seeing from the NFL and the NCAA. Maybe the leagues will listen, maybe they won’t, but even if there is a slim chance that criticism can change each sports league’s trajectory until coaches and players are safer, it is worth a shot. However, knowing how hellbent each sports league is on turning a profit, and how fans and media members are continuing to normalize sports and not being critical enough about each league’s decisions, the trajectory we are on will not change and it will result in continued havoc within all aspects of the sports world.
This is not what anybody wants…