In this case, money matters
Health, safety (and economics) are why Bethune-Cookman is shutting down sports
Do you want to know the real reason the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on Tuesday became the first Division I institution to cancel all of its sports for the entire school year amid concerns about the health and safety of its student-athletes? Because they could.
Because they didn’t have to worry about satisfying TV networks that are paying them mega-millions to broadcast their games.
Because they didn’t have to worry about paying the mortgage on some palatial $100 million stadium expansion project.
Because they didn’t have to worry about President Trump and other pandering politicians pushing and prodding them to play as a way to gain votes on election day.
And because they didn’t have to ride the coattails of their football players to try and recoup the massive financial losses caused by the pandemic.
This might be one of the few times in the history of college athletics where it’s beneficial not to be in the Power 5. If you could remove the financial ramifications, the network TV obligations, the political pressure and the keep-up-with-the-Joneses competition among the major conferences, I’d be willing to bet that most Power 5 athletics directors would have canceled the season long ago rather than endure the chaos and turmoil of trying to play college football during a raging pandemic.
“There are institutions out there that might be leveraged to the point where they have no choice but to play [football,]” Bethune-Cookman athletics director Lynn Thompson told me Tuesday. “I thank God we are at an institution where this decision for us was predicated on health and safety first and foremost and not on finances. … We feel very good about our decision based upon comments from some of our colleagues across the nation who are saying to us, ‘Man, I wish we could make the same decision right now.’ “
For Thompson, the COVID-19 issue hits close to home because his brother-in-law, James Anderson, a former Bethune-Cookman football player, died last month of complications from the virus at the age of 52. Thompson points out that Bethune-Cookman, an historically Black college, is in “the hub of Daytona Beach’s African-American community” where, he says, there are a “disproportionate number” of COVID cases.
“We are an anchor in this community,” Thompson says. “... We could not justify putting our kids and our community at risk.”
Added school president Dr. E. LaBrent Chrite in a statement issued Tuesday: “In the face of a surging COVID-19 spike across much of the country and the state of Florida, we have concluded that the risks are too great for our student-athletes and staff to travel and compete at this time. The health and safety of our student-athletes, as well as our coaches, staff and fans will always be our top priority.”
With the decision to cancel all sports for the remainder of the school year, Bethune-Cookman wiped out an upcoming spring football season as well as its men’s and women’s basketball seasons. While Chrite and Thompson say the decision was based on health and safety concerns and not financial issues, don’t kid yourself: There is certainly a fiscal motive to this decision.
Bethune-Cookman and many other schools operating on a shoestring athletic budget simply cannot afford the constant testing and other protocols that the major institutions of higher earning have implemented to keep their athletes as safe as possible.
Consider that a school like the University of Florida has budgeted about $3 million for COVID testing this year — an amount that would represent about one-fourth of Bethune-Cookman’s $12-15 million-a-year athletic budget. Although Bethune has fewer sports than UF, Thompson said the bill for testing athletes would still be exorbitant.
“The first projection we did for 17 sports was approaching close to $1 million dollars in unbudgeted testing costs,” Thompson says. “… At some point, we have to make sure that the money we invest in our program is being spent the right way.”
The fact is, more financially-strapped, non-Power 5 schools should bury their egos and make the prudent decision that Bethune-Cookman is making. What many non-Power 5 ADs are reticent to say even though it’s absolutely true is that their athletic programs would actually save tons of money by playing sports during a pandemic-ravaged season when even elite Power 5 programs are unable to sell the limited number of football tickets they have made available at their stadiums.
For instance, does it really make since for the Mid-American Conference to return to the football field next week to play a meaningless six-game schedule at empty stadiums in which the schools will actually lose money?
“With our decision to shut down, we feel we’re going to be on the right side of history,” Thompson says.
As an added bonus, Bethune-Cookman will also be on the right side of the balance sheet.