Will COVID-19 be the needle that finally bursts the sports bubble?

UA Chancellor talks reopening process, football games

 

The exchange that prompts the most angst of all of them:

AL.com: Does that include athletics? Some university athletics departments have cut top salaries.

St. John: Everything is on the table.

Imagine Feinbaum's show if the Tide has to whack one of its 180,675 "analysts" in footbaawwwwl.

 

That line sends a cold ripple down my back. Far less painful to whack coaches at UAB and UAH.

Only part of that comment is good-natured paranoia.


Actually, if things break wrong, this could mean real trouble at UA. They have a whole lot of money out in construction bonds that they have to make the nut on, and the school is shut down and returning meal and board money. The last chancellor set a policy of growing the student body and actively recruiting more high paying non-resident students. Over the last ten years they've built a lot of academic buildings, dorms, and the school finances all those shiny new frat and sorority houses. Lose a significant percentage of students, particularly out of state kids, and the lost cash flow will really hurt. And if I were an out of state parent, I'm not sure I'm letting my kid go to Alabama (the state), let alone Alabama (bammer) during an epidemic.

My personal interest is that UAB is the system cash cow. If UAT gets in a tight for cash, tapping us is easy for the BoT. UA System Chancellor Finis St. John was second only to Paul Bryant, Jr. in screwing UAB football over. He's not on my Christmas card list, put it that way.

 

A lot of what passes for online sports journalism is doing the same thing these days.

 

They're doing the best they can. It's hard on everyone.

If I'm a sportswriter, though, I'm pushing hard for everything to come back as soon as possible. Hell if I care how backward I look on Twitter. Twitter isn't paying me.

 

Oh, fuck that. If I was still a sportswriter I’d be moving heaven and earth to get out of newspapers and into a field with better pay and a better future. Warehouse work, for instance.

 

Watching Ali-Frazier II on ESPN.

I’m going to guess my biological father had some cash on Ali as I was born 41 weeks later.

 

Florida State’s athletics director virtually met with the university’s trustees Friday and told them his staff is working on cost-saving measures and budget projections for next year: “‘I don't think any of them will be pretty. … One of them will be a scenario without football. And I would just say God help us if that is the scenario.’” FSU A.D. David Coburn paints grim picture for athletics departments without football

Meanwhile, Adam Silver sounds like nothing’s going to go forward in the NBA without a vaccine. https://www.si.com/nba/2020/04/18/adam-silver-pessimistic-nba-return

 

A number of ideas off the top of my head that would be better than some of the nonsense I've seen.
Catch up with old players. Dudes nobody has heard from in 15-20 years, like a Brian Daubach.

 

Or you could offer to cover the coronavirus beat in your community. Or pick up slack in another area. Reporting is reporting.

 

How is a writer at the athletic supposed to do that? Or SBNation?

 

By working with state or local health departments in his or her region -- if assigned to a particular team -- to collect data on the area's PPE inventory or anticipated peak dates or anything else on the ground locally.
There's no secret that big cities in states opposing Trump are getting the shaft. It's also clear that the NBA, for example, can't really get back into business if there are masks and ventilators aplenty in Memphis and none in Boston.