Pandemic pains
There are more than 2,500 schools across the country with varying covid-19 mitigation policies as the start of the college football season nears. Nearly a quarter of them — including Michigan and Notre Dame — required students arriving this fall to be vaccinated.
The Wild West nature of the upcoming pandemic-challenged college football season can be illustrated in part by 160 miles of Texas highway that connects the trendy college city of Austin with the bustling metropolis of Houston.
At one end lies the University of Texas, where more than 100,000 fans will pack
Texas Memorial Stadium to cheer the Longhorns this fall. Many, along with some players and coaches, are likely to be unvaccinated after Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting vaccine requirements for any organization that receives state funding.
At the other end of that highway is Rice University, where 40,000-plus hope to see their Owls turn things around this fall. And because it is a private research university, Abbott’s executive order does not apply, and vaccine requirements put in place by the school mean just about everybody who shows up will get in only if they have received their covid-19 shots.
That’s just two of the 130 schools that will be playing Division I football this fall.
Each will have vaccination plans shaped by governors and legislatures, medical officials and university leaders, and they are likely to change from week to week. Politics and policy are certain to collide as red states and blue states — often with schools playing in the very same conference — attempt to make it through an entire season without an outbreak.
“Inevitably,” Longhorns Coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged, “we’re all just trying to protect one another.”
There are more than 2,500 schools across the country with varying covid-19 mitigation policies, according to the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College, which has been tracking higher education responses to the pandemic. Nearly a quarter of them — hundreds of schools such as Michigan and Notre Dame — required students arriving this fall to be vaccinated, a number is certain to increase after the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine this week.
Now, one of the biggest roadblocks to requiring the vaccine — its emergency authorization — has become a moot point.
“I think six or seven states, by gubernatorial decree or state legislative decrees, could not do it,” said Chris Marsicano, a Davidson professor who specializes in education policy, “and Ohio, Arizona and Texas are among the most high profile of them.”
The NCAA doesn’t require its 1,100-member schools with some 450,000 athletes in dozens of sports to follow a onesize-fits-all covid-19 policy. Instead, the governing body issued a set of recommendations for testing, quarantining and isolation that were designed to fit within a framework of widely varying state mandates.
Texas and New Hampshire are among those who barred requiring the vaccine; Hawaii demands athletes be vaccinated.It’s not just on the field, either. LSU announced that fans must show proof of vaccination or a recent covid-19 test just to enter Tiger Stadium this fall. Oregon and Oregon State have similar policies in place.
Not surprisingly, there have been legal challenges. In one, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied an emergency application to bar Indiana University from requiring faculty, staff and students be vaccinated against covid-19 — a ruling that suggests athletes and students who challenge other vaccine requirements would likely fail.
There are exemptions, of course, but getting approval isn’t as easy as it might seem.
Duke requires students who obtain an exemption to be subject to daily symptom monitoring, regular testing, masking while indoors and other protocols. Hofstra requires students requesting medical or religious exemptions to have a document signed by a physician or religious leader that must then be reviewed by a university panel.
Often, students who decline the vaccine are forced to pay for regular testing out of their own pockets.
More than 100 games were canceled or postponed in major college football last season, even though most schools played truncated or conference-only schedules. Some were often made up with just a few days’ notice, others bounced around the schedule like a pingpong ball. Coaches were often left wondering who they would play — not to mention when or if at all — as they dealt with the ebb and flow of outbreaks across the country.
At least that won’t be a problem this season. Every Power 5 conference has indicated any team unable to play due to covid-19 issues will be forced to forfeit the game. The SEC has even considered financial penalties for teams that have issues, pointing out that a massive amount of TV money would be jeopardized by canceled games.
“Frankly, anyone not getting vaccinated is taking unnecessary and unwarranted risks,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. “It’s shortsighted to not get vaccinated.”
Clemson, which has played in four of the past six national title games, estimated a university-wide loss of between $70 million and $135 million due to covid-19 in the last fiscal year. About a third came from lost athletics revenue, and the vast majority of that came from reduced football ticket sales to ensure proper social distancing.
Even players have a financial stake in staying on the field, now that they can profit from their name, image and likeness.
“The vaccine gives us hope,” new Kansas Coach Lance Leipold said, “and we know there’s not going to be postponements; there’s going to be forfeitures. Do you want to be the one responsible for not playing for a championship? So we have to find ways to put ourselves in positions to play.”