One of the strangest things about the COVID-19 climate is people that are normally seen as experts in their field have been reduced to a helpless feeling in many senses, aware that any predictions they may have about how things will transpire in the world moving forward are just guesses, ones that the virus may ultimately scoff at.
2020 is set to be Cris Collinsworth's 12th season as Al Michaels' color commentator on NBC's Sunday Night Football. Of course, with the pandemic roaring, the 61-year-old isn't entirely sure of whether there will be NFL and NCAA football in 2020.
"I honestly don't know," Collinsworth admitted on Pardon My Take. "I think college football is going to be tough, because now you have to involve mama. Now, you've got to get the OK from mama...and the professors...and are there really gonna be students on campus...and are they going to play in an empty stadium...and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
Collinsworth went on to say that he selfishly hopes that college football season is moved to the spring, because his NFL responsibilities often keep him from getting to enjoy NCAA football as much as he would like.
While there may be an appetite for college football in the spring, it hardly feels like an ideal solution. First of all, it's difficult to know if a COVID-19 vaccine will exist and be widely available in time to make playing in the spring any safer than the fall. Certainly, it's hard to imagine it being safe to have tens of thousands of fans packed in a football stadium at any point over the next calendar year, which is a large part of the appeal to the college game.
Cris Collinsworth is the color commentator on Sunday Night Football.(Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Additionally, players who are already pretty certain to be drafted into the NFL will be inclined to opt out of a spring season. Not only would it probably not be safe to play a college football season in the spring and an NFL season in the fall, but the risk of getting hurt and ruining your draft stock would be even more apparent if you're playing a season at the same time that NFL teams are finalizing their draft boards.
The good news is that Collinsworth thinks, in some form, there will be a 2020 NFL season.
"The NFL, though, I do think will give it a go, I think they're gonna give it a try and we'll see where it goes," Collinsworth added. "And there will be some people who get sick, some people who opt out and some people who won't want to play.
"But I was around in 1987 when the players' strike happened and they had replacement players that came in. And they had guys that had never played in the NFL. And they put on Dallas Cowboy jerseys and Washington NFL franchise jerseys, and after about three weeks, a friend of mine came up to me and he goes 'Cris, I got some bad news for you, it's about over for you guys.' And I said 'What are you talking about, we're going strong...this is a good strike...this is just.' And he said 'Vegas' betting line is starting to get pretty good. And people are starting to wager on those guys in the Washington NFL franchise uniforms playing against those guys in the Cowboys' uniforms. And because it's not like NFL players playing against those guys, it's those guys playing against those guys, it doesn't really matter to the average fan whose coming out. They just want to have fantasy football and bet, and do whatever the case may be. So I think somebody will be playing. Will it be every single NFL player? Maybe not. But I think somebody will be playing."
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