What will football be like

I'd like to see it half full on the east side and endzones and the west side being in construction mode.

This would be the ideal time to do the remodel. Fans will not come out in droves this year unless they get a vaccine by September. Might as well take the hit this season rather than take the Covid attendance hit this season AND the remodeling hit next year. Two years in a row is a bunch of money and opportunity lost. Heck, maybe they could luck into some kind of stimulus grant for construction if they lobby fast and hard.

Interest rates are so low, not building would be silly, might take a lot of ticket sales if we waited a few years.

How the games will look.  25% capacity, no leaving the stadium at half time, a lot more food carts and at you seat service, and a pay per view for those of us watching from home or the sports bar.

I just received an Email regarding Parking. To Me that is a good sign.

For those between the ages of 18-44, the death rate for coronavirus is 199 out of a million, 0.0199%, around a 5,024:1 shot.

A selection of things that are more dangerous to people under the age of 45 than coronavirus:

Depression/suicide
Drug overdoses
Motor vehicle accidents
Falls
Being struck by an automobile while bicycling or walking
Drowning
Choking on food

And these are not your typical 18-44 year-olds but athletes who are in their late teens and early 20s.  Coronavirus can be very bad for those over the age of 45 or those with pre-existing conditions, but 18-26 year-old athletes?  C'mon now.  Coronavirus isn't exactly the Spanish Flu.

I am going to try really hard to keep this response from turning overly political and derailing the thread, but I gotta say what I gotta say. 

The lack of definitive and accurate information about COVID, and the lack of preparation, were the most significant factors in our response and the economic impact of the pandemic. While a myriad of factors are at play most of it boils down to one undeniable truth. The US of A failed to prepare itself from the inevitable, despite having 2-3 months to get ready. There is only one place to point to for that, and that is all I am going to say on the matter. 

The reality we are coming to as life is going on, as places are reopening, is with better data we are seeing a different picture of the disease. I want to stress it is still a dangerous disease, but some of the very scary stats it came with a couple months ago aren't nearly as bad. The list of those significantly at risk is narrowing to those with heart conditions (hypertension most importantly) and diabetes along with preexisting respiratory issues. As we our testing grows and we find more and more cases, yet hospitalizations are not growing, but in fact have fallen significantly to a steady state. 

Better preparation and better data likely would of made our remediation for the disease less disruptive. We wouldn't of had to focus a response of keeping hospitals below capacity, we wouldn't of had to shutdown a large portion of our health care system to preserve PPE (that was the major reason. to save masks and gowns, NOT to necessarily limit spread). 

For better or for worse, the US decided it was pretty over this COVID thing and started testing the waters, and so far it appears the world has not collapsed. It is worth noting that we are in our 11th day of protests in Portland, and there has not been a spike in hospitalizations yet in the region. Mean time to symptoms is still around 4-5 days, it is reasonable to assume if there was going to be a major spike from the protests, we would be seeing it already. We are not (so far, fingers crossed)

The outbreaks we are having are workplace related. that is the majority of our new cases. Just recently announced is 61 new cases in the last couple days from a seafood cannery on the coast. When scanning the list of workplace outbreaks it doesn't take much to notice a trend. they are all canneries, warehouses or assembly line type places. all close quarters, all hourly wage labor jobs that fit the mold of "pays good, bad benefits". It is probably not a logic leap to reason many of these places do not have strong sick time policies and many may even have the reputation of firing you if you miss more than a few days. Sick people, that cannot afford to be sick, are coming to work and making other people sick. 

All of the above is to say, I am not entirely sure the data will shake out to defend cancelling football this year, and I am not sure the data will defend significant reductions in attendance (by that I mean, sub 50% capacity, lets be real, OSU is already running 75-80% capacity every game...thanks Anderpants...)

Would I be surprised to see fans donning Orange masks? no, and I would encourage it. Would I be surprised to see some measure of limiting congregation? no, and I also would encourage it. Would I be surprised if OSU put limits on tailgating? no, and (don't hit me) I would probably encourage that too. 

But I would, right now, find it hard to justify calling the whole thing off. I think at the end of the day, the Governor knows what is at stake. The money situation is dire. the Economy is now in the driver seat, with the science in the backseat, yelling out that they are going too fast and to slow down... Governor is going to be listening more to the driver and to me that means football is played and likely with most of the fans. 

Remember, shutting down basketball wasn't her call. Nor was baseball. She didn't have to face the music of being the one stopping the events. With the NCAA and the Pac-12 more or less full steam ahead, she WOULD be the bottom line responsible party if football is disrupted. I am not sure she is a brave enough politician for that. 

Wilky, you are correct, of course. I do not worry about the athletes dying, but the fact is that medical professionals do not know the long term effects of COVID 19. In fact, an article from Johns Hopkins states exactly this and goes on to say that they anticipate that many will require rehabilitation of their lungs for a year. And we have heard about how it attacks the liver, so you should not take Advil. 

This may not be the Spanish Flu, but it sure isn’t the seasonal flu, either.

I feel college athletes have more pressure upon them to play. Others make those decisions and they have to live by those decisions. I’m afraid that the decisions made concerning college football will not protect the athlete. 

Remember the football game a couple of years back at Cal when California was filled with smoke from the fires? Doesn’t give me confidence that the powers that be will make sound decisions.