by Rocco Miller (@roccomiller8)
As we continue to find more avenues to engage with the College Basketball Community, it is essential to have proper understanding on how a Global Pandemic (Covid-19) will impact our great sport. This webinar today was hosted by the LEAD1 association, which represents athletics directors in the Bowl Subdivision. This panel provided excllent details on what is being considered today in planning for moving forward, how communications with campus, fans, and the community should occur, and what are the biggest obstacles will be to prepare for as it pertains to college athletics. Although the panel was built on football premise, all of these leaders have a large say on what will happen on the hardwood.
I was personally enlightened and encouraged by the responses from the panel. Several AD’s have a reputation of not being transparent in controversial situations. Given the sensitivity and urgency of this specific subject and what the world is facing today - we repeatedly heard honest, thoughtful responses, and even a sense of excitement to move into what will be a new world of college sports as we know it.
Panelists:
Kathy Beauregard, Director of Athletics, Western Michigan
Martin Jarmond, Director of Athletics, UCLA (Formerly Boston College)
Bob Bowlsby, Commissioner, Big 12 Conference
Jack Swarbrick, Director of Athletics, Notre Dame
Amy Perko, CEO, Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
Tom McMillen, President & CEO, LEAD1 Association
These six panelists helped answer several questions about the future of College Sports.
ON WHAT WE KNOW TODAY:
Kathy Beauregard:
- College Athletics will never be the same as what we thought it was before. This transition process will take several years to come completely out of.
- MAC schools are State funded institutions and their Athletic Departments have anywhere between $31M to $34M budgets to operate with. With states going billions of dollars into debt, it creates difficult decisions within athletic departments on how to cut staff, entire programs, or reduce salaries to balance the budget.
- Programs have already been cut (such as Akron Track, Bowling Green Baseball, etc.) in the conference, but Western Michigan is not planning to cut programs. These cuts going forward figure to have the largest impact on Olympic sports.
Martin Jarmond:
- Athletic Departments need to recalibrate and pivot. Athletics will need to share in the sacrifice of the greater campus and school. Athletic Departments will no longer be able to “outrevenue the provlem.”
- Expect more demand from school Presidents, Athletics will need to give more and release control of operating separately.
- Being sensitive to the needs of your institution as a whole will pay off on the back end of this with faculty and administration.
- Messaging to fans and community members needs to be positive. This is critical. Be even more present in your community. He praised some recent ideas on social platforms of new ways to engage fans and stressed the importance of being innovative in these times. He referenced the Bill Self, Kansas example of live tweeting a memorable game (2008 National Championship).
Bob Bowlsby
- Confident we will get thru this together.
- Changes and requirements may be annoying and different, but everyone has to adjust going forward.
- He was curious about the psychological aspects of these changing times. He mentioned when will fans actually completely feel comfortable assembling together in stadiums next to other strangers. Big assembly anytime soon will be logistically challenging.
- Fearful of the discontinuation of Olympic Sports. If certain sports like gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, waterpolo, etc. leave College Athletics all together, how does that impact us in the olympics on the podium? How does that affect the adoring public?
Jack Swarbrick
- This is a revolutionary period in College Sports. Prior to the pandemic, we were already facing the NIL issue, the results of the Alston case, and a one-time transfer waiver. Sports as we know it will look different on a lot of levels. He is excitied to see the creative approaches on the next generation of college athletics and how it impacts this business.
- Not only concerned about losing programs at different levels, but more concerned about losing entire institutions within the next 3-4 years.
- College athletics is stronger with all levels of participation. Critical time now for a broad solution to be created that allows competition to remain strong and throughout all levels.
Amy Perko
- The biggest priority is the health and safety of the student athletes.
- Important to maintain an equal opportunity for education and athletic success
SUMMARY OF Q&A SESSION:
Kathy Beauregard:
- The future will be different, communicate with your community.
- Deepen relationships with your fan-base. Setbacks are ahead, so it is critical to stay close to them.
- More Social expirimenting
- WMU looking at a four-year plan on adjusting to athletic department reality post-pandemic
Bob Bowlsby:
- In Football this will have to be a linear process. There will be positive tests. Campus-wide response programs will need to be setup. Campus will need disinfectant programs. Social distancing rules will need to be followed. Most importantly: public gatherings is a major risk at this time.
- We could see more enhanced changes to locker room designs, helmet designs to better cover the face, and hospital grade sanitation.
- Met with White House coronavirus task force in recent weeks have led him to believe that such an aggressive testing plan would be viable by football season due to rapid improvements and innovations in test manufacturing. Also that testing will double each month, and he hopes that will hold because it would be a sensitive issue if testing isn’t as easily available for the common student.
- Programs are embedded into collegiate operations within higher education, our task is infinately more complicated than it is with professional teams.
- Things change quickly with the responses and requirements. What’s good today likely won’t be satisfactory a month from now. This is going to be continual voyage of discovery, and we’ll have to innovate going forward to meet the demands.
- Bob mentioned scenario planning and eluded to foresight being a key in preparation for campus life with athletics and students around. He gave a few examples: What happens during cold/flu season during the fall on top of this? How to properly prepare as a department/university? Acknoledge the risks involved. Recent months suggest that plans/ideas are going to take two steps forward and one step back, need to be ready for all of the setbacks.
Jack Swarbrick:
- Reiterated that Atletics must be part of overall campus effort and solution. He does not care about any competitive disadvantage arguments, it doesn’t matter compared to health and safety.
- Notre Dame decided to reopen early to align all parties involved on a common goal and give everyone some direction and a date to build towards (August 10th).
- Individual coaches and sports are exploring several changes currently. Everything from roster sizes, abbreviated schedules, campus needs, etc. Everyone will have to expect change with this.
Amy Perko
- Cutting programs should really be a last resort. Let’s look at ways we can cut costs by reducing inefficiencies.
- She referenced a school president who expressed concerns that his university presidential colleagues would overlook the net tuition revenues many of the so-called non-revenue sport participants produce for universities. An analysis that showed on the whole, the so called non-revenue sports created more net revenue for their university in terms of tuition than football and basketball did.
In summary, expect continous changes as we move forward in college sports. Several elements of the infrastructure as we once knew it, will never return. However, there are clear and stable aspects to college basketball. Television revenue figures to remain or increase, which will more than fund many programs. The product will not be as great without an atmosphere if no fans are allowed, but some innovative ideas with microphones on coaches and other new viewing enhancements are now on the table. Fortunately, basketball has a couple of additional months compared to football to make some strategic decisions on how to best adapt to our changed society. We are already seeing this with the revised non-conference schedules which are mainly aiming for less travel. Change is not an option anymore, we all need to adapt together. In the end, College Hoops will continue on to survive and advance.