Northwestern AD Weighs In On The Return Of College Football

It's all or nothing for Northwestern AD Jim Phillips. 

ChicagoTribune - It isn’t appropriate for us to play college football without fans. If that were the case, it would mean there would be major reservations about group gatherings,” Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips said on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” echoing a sentiment that is also becoming popular among administrators.

While professional sports can talk about starting their seasons in front of empty stadiums or with a reduced schedule, college sports has to be a little more careful. Money and the bottom line are paramount to professional sports (they are in college sports too, but we're not supposed to say that.) Owners and participants alike in pro sports wouldn't mind shouldering a little bit of risk to get their product back on the field.

The NCAA is a different animal. All of their participants are students first, athletes second (their words, not mine) so asking them to take risks with their health (again don't think about this too hard) is a little beyond the pale.

It's alright to ask Javy Baez to assume some risk when he's making a couple million a year. It's not so cool to make the 4th string linebacker at Missouri do the same when he still has a full course load and isn't making anything (unless they went to Bama.)

It looks like college football will at least be delayed this season and that's a bummer but hopefully, everyone takes the macro look at this and uses good judgment.