I dont often start a thread but only read this in Connecticut Newsspaper [Archive]

sirthought

08-07-2020, 09:55 PM

Maybe this will help.

The Big East is currently exploring multiple different options to play a 2020-21 college basketball season. And according to multiple sources, one of those options is playing games inside a “bubble.”

The NBA and NHL are currently playing the remainder of their respective seasons in a bubble (at Disney World in Orlando for the NBA; in Toronto and Edmonton for the NHL). This keeps players, coaches, staff, etc. essentially in one area where they can be monitored and not risk being infected by COVID-19 while out in public.

While this would be significantly harder to do with college athletes, the fact that many if not most schools could be providing online-only classes again would make things easier from an academic standpoint.

But there are so many other questions. A few:

When would this take place? There are a couple of natural windows. There’s the month or so between Thanksgiving, when many schools will be ending their first semester this year, and Christmas. Online exams would likely be administered by most schools at this time, but games could still be played. And there’s the three or four weeks between Christmas and mid-January, when the second semester typically begins at most schools. If there is to be some sort of Big East bubble, it would likely be in one of those spans — but not both.

Ostensibly, teams playing inside a league-only bubble could get in perhaps 10 or 12 games during one of those spans. After that, depending on how far the country is in terms of controlling the virus, the league would have all (or half) of January and all of February to play the rest of its schedule. Perhaps at that point, they’d even be allowed to play on campus with fans in the arena.

Where would the bubble be? Hard to say, but while Madison Square Garden would seem to be a natural choice, don’t bet on it. In theory, the NBA and NHL could be playing at that point, as well, making scheduling a mess. And the league would seem to need an area where there are multiple courts to use, though perhaps that’s not an absolute necessity.

Plus, even though New York City has significantly reduced its COVID numbers, is it the best place to sequester?

How much would this cost the league? A lot. That’s one reason why it would only likely last a few weeks or a month. Even that span may prove to be too much. Remember, it’s not just players and coaches. League and team administrators and staff and other typical members of a team’s traveling party would have to be housed. And don’t forget the referees.

Would this mean a conference-only schedule? Probably. However, if the Big East felt comfortable that other Power Five leagues had strict protocols and were adhering to them properly, perhaps a few regional games could be scheduled outside the bubble. UConn-Boston College, anyone?

As for currently scheduled games, it would seem unlikely at this point that games will be played in November. For UConn, that might eliminate the Legends Classic at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Nov. 23-24. Can we safely eliminate the Huskies’ slated Dec. 6 bout at Florida? Maybe, maybe not. A lot would depend on whether Florida was adhering to COVID protocols, as well as whatever the bubble situation might be at the time.

The Big East has already gone to a conference-only schedule for fall sports, though it seems likely that the league’s entire fall sports schedule will be canceled in the near future.

Will the players agree to this? This may be the most important question of all. The difference between putting professional players making millions of dollars under a bubble and putting unpaid college players is a big one. With more and more college players demanding rights for student-athletes (see the PAC-12, among others), this may be the deal-breaker.

Again, this is just one of many options the Big East (and the Big Ten, reportedly) are looking at right now. So many questions, so few answers. Of course, there are no definitive answers anywhere in the college sports world right now.