SBJ College: Reality Check For Football Season

The start of Season 3 for “Yellowstone” was a bit of a letdown, but they’ve already got me hooked.

Now let’s see what’s cooking on campus.

COVID-19 UPTICK GIVES COLLEGE PROGRAMS PAUSE

• As many as 30 players entered quarantine for the defending CFP champions at LSU, while 23 players from Clemson and 15 players from Texas tested positive for COVID-19. Kansas State, Houston and Boise State shut down their voluntary workouts. Many schools have brought players back to campus by now and gone through a phase of coronavirus testing. Maybe the number of cases should have been expected, but seeing so many players test positive, even if very few of them showed symptoms, still sent a jolt through college football.
  
  
• Until the last couple of days, I sensed a strong optimism from college administrators that there would be a 2020 football season. They had a sound plan to bring athletes back for workouts. The NCAA approved a calendar that included a six-week run-up to the season. Sure, it was going to be uneven. Some schools would play more games than others, but it’s nothing they couldn’t live with for a season, especially if it meant recouping some of the revenue from ticket sales and media rights fees. Then the positive tests brought with them a stern reality check. With that came the questions that have been asked repeatedly for two days:
  
  
  • What are the circumstances that would shut down a season? That hasn’t been determined.
    
    
  • Are they different from school to school, state to state, conference to conference? Most likely, yes.
    
    
  • Should there be different standards for pro athletes and college athletes to compete during a pandemic? Most would say yes.
    
    
• Florida provided a glimpse into its common-sense strategy for how to handle COVID-19 challenges when Senior Associate AD Steve McClain told local media that they expected positive test results and that with the school’s healthcare system, they are well-positioned to manage those cases. What I’ll be watching in August is whether university leaders stick to their plan for in-person learning on campus, as most said they would, or if we see school presidents retreat to online learning out of an abundance of caution, which would very likely doom the season. Those factors are inextricably linked.
  
  
• I also recommend a piece from Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel, who took the temperature of the industry and discovered a heavy dose of discouragement.

ARKANSAS QUIETLY ENJOYS STRONG OFFSEASON

• Arkansas was one of the real success stories in college football’s offseason before the pandemic put everything on hold. The Razorbacks, buoyed by new football coach Sam Pittman and an aggressive, revamped marketing plan, saw season-ticket renewals increase to 93%, compared to 78% in 2019. Arkansas, which was pacing well ahead of last year’s sales, had sold 33,000 season tickets (not counting students) for the 2020 season before it stopped taking orders.
  
  
• Deputy AD/External Operations Rick Thorpe said implementing six-foot social distancing within Razorback Stadium could fill about 25% of its 76,000 capacity, including standing-room-only areas. That’s consistent -- a range of 25-30% -- with what I’ve heard from most schools in the Power 5.
  
  
• The Razorbacks also have determined how fans will be spaced if distancing is enforced. Groups of six will be the largest gatherings allowed. In most cases, fans will have to sit two seats off the aisle and there will have to be four seats between groups. Arkansas is preparing for both distancing and traditional seating. At 25%, the school has already determined that single-game and multi-game packs probably won’t be part of the ticketing mix this season.
  
  
• The rules are a little different in the premium areas, where fans in suites and loge seating don’t have to follow distancing requirements or limited capacity because those areas are closed off and have their own bathroom access. Those in club areas, however, are still subject to six-foot distancing. Considering that season tickets sold already are more than the seats available, Thorpe told a LEAD1 webinar that the school’s booster group is currently determining how tickets will be distributed.

CHARLOTTE ROLLS OUT REBRAND AFTER 16-MONTH EFFORT

• Charlotte came out today with a thorough rebrand for the athletic department's branding via local creative and communications firm LGA. The rebrand includes new football uniforms and helmet design for the Conference USA program, as well as marks that will be used across campus and on 49ers’ gear. The abbreviation "CLT" also is prevalent in the design.
  
  
• The rebrand was 16 months in the making, but it did run into some headwinds when the pandemic hit. The original plan called for the rollout to happen in tandem with new turf on the football field, but budget limitations due to coronavirus made that too much to tackle at once. Charlotte officials expect to resurface the field in the next year or two.

A new secondary logo (top) will feature "CLT," while a tertiary logo will include the 49ers nickname

CHECK OUT THE PRINT ISSUE OF SBJ THIS WEEK

• Don’t miss this week’s issue of SBJ. Meanwhile, if you’d like to receive the print issue at your home office, update your delivery address at any time within your account settings here. If you have any questions about how and where to receive your print copy of SBJ, please email help@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

SPEED READS

• I reached out to a couple of experts on name, image and likeness for a story in SBJ this week. They run firms that offer education to athletes about how to handle their money and what types of opportunities they might have in an NIL marketplace. To think that only the top 2% of athletes -- the ones who will go pro -- will make money is shortsighted, they say.
  
  
• UConn will cut men's swimming and "likely" other sports, SI's Pat Forde reports. AD David Benedict is presenting a proposal to the school's board of trustees tomorrow. The athletic department, facing deficit projections ranging from $47-129 million, has been "tasked with finding ways to reduce its subsidy" by 25%, or $10 million, over three years. The Hartford Courant notes former athletes from the tennis, track & field and men’s golf teams have already "spearheaded fundraising efforts in an attempt to show the university that, instead of needing to eliminate sports, outside financial supporters are eager to lend a hand." 
  
  
• The Cincinnati board of trustees voted unanimously this morning to remove Marge Schott's name from the university's campus ballpark. The Cincinnati Business Courier noted a former UC baseball player started a petition in June to have the late Reds owner's name "removed from the stadium because of her use of racial slurs."
  
  
• Conference USA is joining the NCAA and SEC by instituting a prohibition on any postseason play in Mississippi until the Confederate emblem is removed from the state flag. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger notes the C-USA baseball tournament was "played in Mississippi every year between 2014 and 2019, as well as in 2009, 2012 and 2013." It also was set to be in Biloxi this year before the pandemic led to the cancellation of NCAA spring sports.
  
  
• Volleyball isn't a revenue driver at many schools, but the women's team at Hawaii is one them. The team was third in NCAA average attendance in 2019, behind only Nebraska and Wisconsin (those were the only three programs in the country to draw over 100,000 total fans for the season). However, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser noted UH has reported a 69.7% season-ticket renewal rate for volleyball, compared with 87.2% at the same point in 2019. That's a drop of nearly 20% and matches the decline seen by Hawaii football, which is the school's only other revenue-creating program.

Hawaii currently has a 69.7% season-ticket renewal rate for volleyball, compared with 87.2% at the same point in 2019

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ Media with John Ourand and SBJ Esports with Adam Stern and Trent Murray. Also check out the SBJ Unpacks newsletterevery Monday-Friday night, as we look at how the sports industry is being impacted by COVID-19.

Something on the College beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).