Anticipation growing for college football

Life was about to change while sitting in a Nashville, Tenn., hotel room on March 12.

That morning, a dozen hours after the University of Arkansas had beaten Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament, Herb Vincent — associate commissioner for the conference and a native of North Little Rock (Little Rock Catholic graduate) — tweeted that the remainder of the SEC Tournament was canceled.

At halftime of the Razorbacks game the night before, the SEC announced the remainder of the tournament would be played without spectators, which brought a chorus of boos from the fans.

Being a skeptical journalist, the tweet was not immediately accepted. Confirmation quickly came from Vincent himself.

Bob Holt, our man who covers Razorbacks basketball, ace photographer Charlie Kaijo and yours truly met in the lobby less than an hour later to head home.

Holt desperately wanted to go by the team hotel for some interviews, but the Hogs already were loading buses for the airport.

The belief that the Hogs’ chances of beating South Carolina that night, which reportedly had lost 6-11 senior Maik Kotsar to a shoulder injury in practice, was gone.

Fifty-six days later, sports is still on the back burner, as they should be.

In about two months, more than 70,000 Americans have lost their lives to covid-19. That’s more American lives than the Vietnam War took.

The spread of the virus appears to be slowing, and more thought is being given to sports.

Major League Baseball, the NBA and NHL are sitting on go, ready to play.

In the South, there is more talk about college football than professional sports. Yes, even Alabama is technically an amateur team.

College football in the South is Saturday’s religion. It is a way of life.

It is also the financial lifeline of college athletic programs.

So, a number of ideas are being thrown around as the country watches the states that are reopening businesses to see whether the virus is really being contained. The bottom line is the same: No one knows for sure when any sport will play again.

It’s feasible to think that if the number of people getting the virus declines, the college football is closer to becoming a reality.

Hope that the season will be played as scheduled is growing by the day. Still, it appears there are alternate plans that could mean college football starts a month or two late, maybe even three.

The main thought is that it needs to be played.

Schools and athletic programs need it, and fans want it played.

It is hard to imagine Ohio State and Michigan playing in January when a pleasant day is still a freezing day, but it could happen.

Some smaller schools already have eliminated some of their secondary sports, ones that live off of football profits, but the major schools are waiting.

Mostly everyone is waiting because polls have shown fans won’t come to the games if it might put their lives in danger.

The fact is college football is the goose that lays the golden eggs for athletic departments. How the schools got so dependent on one sport is, at least in part, because of the million-dollar contracts and buyouts for coaches.

Paying a coach millions who isn’t succeeding doesn’t make sense.

College football has not been a good business model for many years. As officials make plans on how to have a football season, they might consider figuring out how to have a better business model since there is still a chance there won’t be a college football season.