Two ADs say canceling college football season would be 'financially devastating'

We don’t want to think about the possibility of not having a college football season. But with all sports currently placed on hold, it’s hard not to wonder if there won’t be at least a delay in the 2020 kickoff.

It’s something that college athletic directors are forced to think about with the current public health concerns surrounding COVID-19. Being prepared for a worst-case scenario when it comes to college athletics is something they’ll be evaluating over the coming days, weeks and months.

And in a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel, University of Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin and UCF Athletic Director Dana White both acknowledged the kind of financial situation it would create for not only their schools, but athletic departments across the country.

“For right now, it’s all manageable,” Stricklin told the Orlando Sentinel. “But the question your mind goes to really quickly is if this lasts into another school year. From a financial standpoint, if we’re not playing football games in the fall, it will shake the foundation of college athletics. As everyone knows, football pays for the enterprise to go forward.”

Losing out on ticket sales, sponsorship agreements, donations and television deals would be a huge blow to every college athletic department, every conference and all of college athletics.

“Financially, it would devastating,” White said. “I don’t know what would happen or how it would play out if we didn’t play football this fall.”

The NCAA made the difficult decision this March to cancel the NCAA Tournament, a huge revenue-generating event that brings in loads of cash for the association. Numerous conference basketball tournaments, winter sports championships and spring seasons were canceled due to the ongoing public health crisis.

While we’d like to not think about the cancellation of the college football season, there’s a real possibility that the season does not continue as planned.