SBNation Reacts: COVID-19 Football!

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged in Missouri Tigers fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.

Before students even return to campus, COVID-19 is already casting a shadow over the 2020 college football season. Depending on how things develop, that shadow could blot out the entire season.

According to the latest SB Nation Reacts survey, fans are not only aware of that possibility but many expect it to happen.

Just over one-third of fans expect the 2020 season to be canceled entirely. Another 32 percent of fans think the season will be moved to the spring of 2021. The remaining 34 percent of fans think the NCAA will be able to pull off a conference-only or regional schedule.

Again, this isn’t what people think should happen, rather what they think will happen. I’m not sure what it would look like if we polled people’s preferences but, essentially, everyone believes that we’re not getting a normal 12-game schedule, it’s just what that actually looks like that’s up in the air.

Conference-only schedules could be fun from a story-line standpoint, and getting teams to play their peers and getting more valid data points from playing schools that have the same (or at least similar) resources and talent levels will be a lot more revealing than, say, playing an FCS/G5 paycheck game. Moving the season to spring might be a smart plan to avoid potential winter spikes of COVID-19 but a.) we don’t know COVID-19 will be less of a threat in the spring b.) the federal government and various state governments might have new leadership that implements stricter control over activities and c.) 3rd-year players and older might choose to sit out the season and get ready for the draft, robbing the sport of some of the best players in the country.

However, there is slightly more confidence in the success of the basketball season. The typical season starts in early November, but is proceeded by preseason games.

More than a third of fans believe the basketball season will have a delayed start, but will be completed. 27 percent of fans think the basketball season will be conference only and 16 percent think the basketball season will also be canceled. Only 10 percent believe the season will go off without any changes.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.