Damaging? Maybe disappointing but as we learned in the spring and over the summer, life will go on.

So as a former fan of MLB, do you feel damaged today?

I guess what I'm trying to say is perhaps this whole thing will put things in perspective.

"The gladiator games lasted for nearly a thousand years, reaching their peak between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. The games finally declined during the early 5th century after the adoption of Christianity as state church of the Roman Empire in 380, although beast hunts (venationes) continued into the 6th century."

Perhaps, the time has come in society for us to stop creating forms of entertainment to help escape from it. That said, I doubt that College Football will go away, even if we have to wait five years for everything to return to normal. What I do think will disappear is the complete decadence related to programs like Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State. College sports has gotten way too big for antiquated forms of education to continue to support them. Perhaps, the Top teams will join the NFL in the meantime.

Comparing local businesses to college athletics is a bit of a stretch. When I broke my leg in 1998 after playing competitive ball for 34 years and could no longer play basketball or softball, my whole perspective on the importance of sports changed. Granted, I'm just one person and while I continued to enjoy watching sports on TV and going to OU games, a loss by my favorite team no longer ruined my day. It just wasn't that important any longer and I found additional things to occupy my time. We all lived without sports this spring and summer and will do so this fall. Many folks will find other things to do with their time.

This whole thing has been a wake up call for Athens and OU. We can't continue to spend because the source of the money for that spending will in many cases no longer be there. As my friend OCF will tell you, there's nothing wrong with a little fiscal responsibility.

And I'm glad to see that Maddog 13, LC and I are all basically on the same page with this.

Agreed. College athletics has been an over bloated mess for a long time, same thing with HS athletics TBH as well. There's a lot more important things than College Athletics...and it's all been an expensive house-of-cards $billion feeding frenzy.

Those 80,000 to 100,000 stadium capacities aren't going to work in the new social distancing normal. Having only 2,500 in Peden looks a lot better.

The same goes with hotels. Those with 2,000 room capacities now only have 40 stay there a night. Hotels with smaller capacities in some cases are keeping up a fairly high occupancy.

I was in Chicago recently and they said between 1929 and 1959 there was practically no skyscrapers built in the United States. If college campuses are in the midst of a great depression it could be 30 years of no new construction. OU was fortunate to have an enrollment boom in the decade prior to the pandemic pushing a lot of needed projects forward.

American workers unionized in heavier numbers following the great depression. Eventually the price became too much and they moved plants to low cost/low regulation areas. If college football players unionized while at the same time profits diminished will the P5 counteract by cutting scholarships from 85 to 55? Universities lower in the D1 food chain might pull the plug on it all together.

I did read is that OU raised almost 50 million in the year ending June 1st (record for a non-campaign year) and believe it or not is on pace to raise that level of money this year. Big donors are going to continue to want their name on a building. Does this mean OU has what it takes to stay D1 in this environment? The food chain in D1 is going to be disrupted and it could actually help us.

I'm not sure you get my analogy. But to answer: yes, it depends on the industry. College athletics in most of the country including the P5 is a house of cards. Is there REALLY a demand for the amount of college sports that there is? I'd argue no. If there were no universities would need to subsidize their programs with student fees.

It's only sustainable because of the subsidy on the backs of students. The ESPN's, sports writers, bars, all make $ on something they are not directly tied to maintaining. And we've seen how viewership/attendance decline has taken a toll on ESPN, with numerous layoff spells before this pandemic. They're catering to a demand, that's not even existent; at least not at the level the subsidy says it is. In fact a lot of the "demand" is manufactured by ESPN just having the content, and there is nothing tangible associated to it.

If students were to decide sports aren't important and they don't want to pay to subsidize sports and start picking institutions that are cheaper for that reason...the house of cards built on quicksand comes tumbling down.

I will bet a paycheck that college football will be back in 2021, and with as many members +/- 5 as they had last year at the FBS level. want that action?

I’m on BTC’s side here once again. He seems the voice of reason crying in the BA wilderness.

I’m not saying there won’t be some post-pandemic changes, particularly in the area of coach’s salaries. But, the gloom and doom camp seems doomed to ultimate failure to me!

So with no sports, band, etc. this coming fall, does the student fee at OU get reduced by a comensurate amount for the first semester?

Are you sure that the description didn’t get cut off? It seems like “virtually completely unattended” might be a better description of homecoming this year

I feel spoiled... Even up here in NEO their distribution is to the point now where I can walk into a random convenience store and there’s a very good chance they’ll not only have Jackie O’s of some kind but they might even have seasonal/limited run Jackie O’s cans for sale in addition to the mainstays