Colleges Plan Football Season That Many Doctors Advise Skipping
Colleges Plan Football Season That Many Doctors Advise Skipping
(Bloomberg) --
College coaches and fans are growing confident they can hold a football season this fall, even as scientists and health professionals urge caution.
While those inside the sport believe they’re getting appropriate advice from doctors affiliated with their programs, others have said schools should cancel the season, the biggest money-maker of any sport, in the interest of public health. The debate may surface Wednesday during a hearing on college athletics before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
At stake are billions of dollars in television rights, sponsorships and gate receipts, plus a valuable recruiting tool, especially for smaller colleges. Those opposed to resuming play say missing one year is a price worth paying to combat a virus that has killed more than 140,000 people in the U.S.
Michael Huey, a former team physician at the University of Florida who has held Gator season tickets for 26 years, is among those who are concerned.
“As much as it pains me to say this, I don’t think we should have college football in the fall,” said Huey, who recently retired from Emory University in Atlanta and is a former president of the American College Health Association. “It’s not an opinion that I’m happy giving because I love football, I really do. I want the athletes to be safe.”
‘Students First’
The University of Texas told season ticket holders that the stadium where the Longhorns play will be limited to 50% capacity for the time being, the Daily Texan student newspaper reported Tuesday.
Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, was among the first to cancel football in June.
“Our student athletes are students first,” said President David Thomas, who previously taught at Harvard Business School. He said it’s “troubling” that he has yet to hear a college president make a values-based rationale in support of playing this fall.
Ed Orgeron, head coach of reigning national champion Louisiana State University, and former Ohio State University head coach Urban Meyer, are among those who expect games will be played.
“I’ve talked to a few of my colleagues that I’m really close with and I really believe we’re going to get that done,” Meyer said last week in an interview with Fox News.
Susan McLellan, an infectious disease physician at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said college athletes who contract the virus could see their dreams of going pro dashed.
“Many of these people walk out scarred after being hospitalized,” she said. “They could walk out as a pulmonary cripple. I wouldn’t want to get Covid if I was an athlete and wanted to make it part of my career.”
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