Pushing season forward to summer an idea reportedly being considered

The possibility of a fall without college football comes more real by the day, and now one idea would see an empty fall calendar -- or, at least an empty October, November, December and January -- by design.

According to Sports Business Journal, one idea among some sources is to push the season forward to miss a possible re-emergence of COVID-19 when the cooler weather arrives in the late fall. It’s not abundantly clear from the writing who these sources are -- ADs, commissioners, TV executives -- nor how many are taking the idea seriously.

Here’s the key passage:

Amid a growing concern that the college football season could be pushed back, or even canceled, an alternative could come into play -- moving the season up to July, August and September, writes SBJ’s Michael Smith. Every other scenario has the season starting later in the fall, at a time when the coronavirus could be returning for another round of infections as the cool weather returns and a vaccine most likely unavailable until 2021. But staging an abbreviated college football season in the summer presents an opportunity to play games when the warm weather could help prevent the spread of the virus.

Now, there are a number of issues with this, not the least of which being that there remains limited -- if any -- hard data suggesting the coronavirus is seasonal in the first place.

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of possible logistical issues -- When would players need to be back to campus? Will it be safe to staff the stadiums? Would TV partners be on board with this? Would administrators?

That answer seems like a hard no.

FWIW, didn’t take long after retweeting this to hear from a P5 official who called it “The most absurd thing I’ve heard so far.” That person doesn’t think this is a serious option at all. https://t.co/fEdL0gSTFd

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 28, 2020

In response to a Sports Business Journal report that colleges have looked into moving the college football season to July, Aug. and Sept., UM said today that has NOT been discussed at their level and their intent is to play their schedule on dates the games are scheduled.

— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) March 28, 2020

The idea, unlikely as it is, undercuts the key dilemma at the core of college football. Yes, it is a big business worth billions of dollars in television contracts alone, but it’s a game played by amateur students, at its core for the enjoyment of fellow students. And if you’re playing games pitting one school against another when no one is at school, what are you even doing, really?