A relatively small number of US universities have football teams that attract lots of spectators. Even at those universities, not all of the students care about football. Most college students do not attend these universities anyway.
Indeed, given the LAC advocacy around these forums, it would appear that many of the regulars here do not consider watching football to be an important part of the college experience.
Football & football generated revenue is very important at the universities in the Power 5 conferences.
While most students do not attend these 70 or so universities, all Power conference schools except WFU have large enrollments, very large alumni bases, and even larger fan bases.
“Cancellation of college football for even one season will cause negative effects on university finances for several years.”
It would have more impact on the businesses around the university than the university itself. Again, it’s $200M of revenue of universities that take in over $5B, it will have more an emotional impact than financial, and yes the fund-raising will take a hit at least short term. Take away Stanford’s or UM’s medical school and healthcare system and that will have a negative impact. I attended two universities, and one of them had a significant sports culture year around, not just the fall.
"If so, how will this affect the traditional American college culture & experience at major US universities ? "
It would depend on your definition of major, I grew up in NJ and NY and I can think of only one, maybe two schools in those states that would be affected - Syracuse, maybe Rutgers. Everybody else that would be considered major - Cornell, RPI, Princeton, Colgate, Bard, NYU, Stevens, Columbia would not have no or minimal impact. Even in a football popular state like CA, it would be a handful - USC, UCLA maybe Stanford and Berkeley. Others like Cal Tech, Pomona, other UCs, CSUs, would not. Again, would it have some impact sure, but not affect their culture.
And getting rid of athletics would make college admissions more fair, no doubt that.
Of the 9 UCs with undergraduate students, 3 have intercollegiate football. While UCB and UCLA are in a D1 FBS P5 conference, UCD is in a D1 FCS conference.
The 23 campus CSU system has 3 D1 FBS non-P5 football teams and 2 D1 FCS football teams. Most of the rest do not have football at all.
Then you have the California community colleges that enroll more students than UC and CSU combined.
So big time college football is not part of most college students’ experiences.
WFU undergraduate enrollment is about 5k. Do Stanford (7k), Vanderbilt (7k), Northwestern (8k), TCU (9k) have “large” undergraduate enrollments? Also, Notre Dame (9k) is often seen as a P5-level D1 FBS team outside of any conference for football.
The PAC 12 will be offering low interest loans to its members to cover any covid issues due to lost revenue. I think they were up to $58M. They did not expect all school to take them or at least not for the full amount.
This mindset has always bothered me (not saying it is your mindset @ucbalumnus). I understand that not everyone is into college football, but for some it is a large part of the type of college experience they desire. Why are certain desired aspects of the college experience “better” than others?
Ds had an amazing college counselor at his high school, but she was very pro small LAC. She didn’t hide that bias at all, but that sort of college isn’t for everyone. If the goal is “fit,” all factors important to the particular student who is searching should be equally valued - whether the person advising values them or not.
It just bugs me when folks are “dismissive” of the appeal of college football.
https://itjustmeansmore.com/the-day-sports-stopped-52650fb87cf0
Lots of rumors floating around at this point. Big 10 presidents met yesterday. Sources saying in that meeting majority of presidents support postponing the season to the spring. But they do not want to vote anything official until they gauge what the other power 5 conferences will do. Pac-12 presidents have a meeting this week to make a decision.
Spring brings its own issues. Will athletes headed to the NFL sit out the spring to prepare for the draft? If they play in the spring how many games will they play and what impact does that have on fall 2021? Without a vaccine (which is the hope but no guarantee), will circumstances be significantly improved over where we are now? Will they be able to have fans? Still lots of we shall see.
Fall sports being kaput is inevitable now.
As for draft-able football players playing Spring football, IMO, I doubt it. While some of the top QB’s may not throw, perform the jump reach, run the 40, they do get interviewed and usually measured in the NFL’s draft combine, which takes place in February. And then the draft is typically held in late April.
NFL timelines can and may get changed, but why would you risk injury playing in an *asterisk FBS season that’s played in the Spring and potentially miss the NFL combine?
“. . . why would you risk injury playing in an *asterisk FBS season that’s played in the Spring and potentially miss the NFL combine?”
Believe it or not, many college football players play for love of the game and love of their college. The overwhelming majority college football players know they aren’t NFL material anyway, so the combine means nothing to them, and they have absolutely nothing to lose by playing football in the spring instead of the fall. Also, most college football teams are realistic enough to know they won’t be competitive for a national championship or even their own conference championship, so the “asterisk season” tag applies only to a tiny handful of top programs. And the top NFL prospects know they’ll be top prospects whether or not they attend the combine. Every year, some top prospects elect to skip the combine entirely, calculating that the combine isn’t going to help their draft status and could possibly hurt it either through lackluster numbers in drills that don’t necessarily translate into prowess on the gridiron, or through the risk of injury at the combine. That leaves a relatively small number of more questionable prospects who hope to improve their draft status through a strong performance at the combine. And that’s not nearly enough to drive the decision whether to postpone college football until the spring.
Questionable prospects aren’t invited to the NFL combine. The NFL combine is invitation only. 337 players were invited/attended in 2020.
I’d say ALL players that are invited to attend, participate in some capacity, interviews, workouts, measurements, etc. Improving one’s draft position/round is crucial to amount of pay, length of contract, potential career outcome, etc.
It appears that there were 3 healthy players that did not WORKOUT in the last NFL combine. Joe Burrow, K’Lavon Chaisson and Chase Young. But I believe they did attend for interviews and physical measurements, though I wasn’t there to verify their attendance. 
As I said above, if I were a draft-able player, then I wouldn’t play a Spring season. Some of the fringe “UDFA types” might play in the Spring and skip the combine for more exposure. Obviously those that aren’t draft-able (haven’t played and/or redshirted for 3 years) will play.
Dan Patrick is saying Big 10 and Pac 12 are canceling 2020 season. Not just planning to do so but affirmatively will. I have seen cancel and delay/postpone used without regard to any difference. 12 of Big 10 school presidents voted to cancel. Iowa and Nebraska didn’t.
ACC and Big 12 are expected to follow. Sounds like the SEC is still trying to decide.
Announcement is tomorrow for some reason. So for those in the know can the teams continue to practice? Kinda hard for some teams to practice during the winter due to the elements… To get ready for spring football.
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The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Big Ten has voted to cancel the 2020 football season. They cited multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation who remain anonymous because they aren’t supposed to give any information to the news media before the official announcement tomorrow (Tuesday). The Free Press also reports that both Michigan and Michigan State voted in favor of canceling the season, despite the publicly expressed wishes of both schools’ head football coaches that games would be played this year.
“Questionable prospects aren’t invited to the NFL combine. The NFL combine is invitation only. 337 players were invited/attended in 2020.”
Do they all get drafted? I’ll bet not. And many of those who do attend the combine are ultimately drafted in lower rounds than they expected going in. Even among those who do get drafted or sign on as free agents, a fair number are essentially washouts in the NFL, sticking round for a year or perhaps a few years, seeing limited if any playing time before they’re unconditionally released, their football careers over. It’s in that sense that I call them questionable prospect. Being invited to the combine is no guarantee of a successful career in pro football.
I hope the schools that don’t play football allow student athletes to transfer or take leaves. For those who will stay enrolled, I hope they are allowed to continue living on campus.
This is a very late date to be making the decision to cancel or postpone (not clear which Big10 is doing) the season.
Should they be able to transfer to a college that is playing football this fall? By the end of this week, there likely won’t be any colleges playing football this fall.
Big 10 announced in July that any athlete not competing in 2020/2021 academic year for any reason related to Covid would keep their scholarship and remain in good standing with their team. I think other conferences may have made similar announcements but not sure.
It is late but its a tough situation. Very dynamic situation. What you would have announced a month ago may be very different now as circumstances change. What I am hearing now is there are concerns with long term heart issues associated with the virus. You need some lead time so you can’t say X and Y are playing each other this Saturday. But as situations change, its extremely challenging to make plans.
We’re arguing about semantics of “questionable prospects.” IMO, if they’re invited to the NFL Combine, then they’re not “questionable prospects,” since the NFL is picky about who they invite.
Some prospects that would potentially get drafted in the last (7th) round often prefer to be UDFA’s, since then they can negotiate with any of the 32 teams. Rosters and practice squads have been expanded, so I’d bet nearly all invitees will make an NFL roster or a practice squad. And plenty of non-invitees make rosters or practice squads too.
Nearly every invitee goes to NFL Combine to improve draft positioning, roster bonuses, contract $$$ and length of contract. You see that’s where we see differently. The average NFL career is 3.3 years and the average NFL earnings are $3 Million. The minimum salary for a practice squad player is $136,000 (more than EECS grads), if kept the entire season on the practice squad. Some are promoted and some are dropped.
I’d be the first-in-line to be considered a “questionable prospect” by your standard. I could say I played in the NFL, even a practice squad. 
I once coached with a “questionable prospect” that once had “a cup of coffee” in the MLB. He played in the minor leagues for a while too. He didn’t make much money, but he PLAYED IN THE MLB! I admired him.
There are definitely long term heart issues associated with infection. We don’t yet know how many people get those issues, but in one study, the number was stratospheric: 60% (!!!) of those studied had heart issues two months after infection. There’s some question whether that study group might have been a sicker population, because only 18% were asymptomatic. Still, the number could be a lot lower than 60% and still be alarming.