It seems like the politics of the Midwest vs the West are going to be the biggest hurdle now in which fans get to watch football, and which players get to play football. Before the Big10 announcement, I thought the biggest hurdle would be lawsuits. My theory on that is that Trump/the Government gave these institutions a wink and nod that such lawsuits or damages wouldn’t be considered. Waivers will have to be signed and will be upheld, is the likely way that will work.

To the bigger issue, for better or worse, the South and Midwest don’t care about safety; they just want to see football and make that revenue. West cares about safety and upholding their progressive image, but they also want that revenue. This puts them more in a bind. Seems to be why the PAC will be a month to a month and a half behind the Big10. Have to do image/damage control under the guise of confirming the reliability of testing, caring about safety, being good progressives, etc. I don’t necessarily disagree with the safety aspect, but I do wish it was genuine rather than an image to uphold, and that’s why I’m being a bit catty about it.

Big picture: at this point everyone seems over the virus. The economy is 72% open, up from 53% at the lows, which might be about the best we can do due to social and structural issues with the remaining 28%, but it suggests an overall “I’m over it” vibe. For this reason, momentum is now to play a season. If that’s the case, I wish the Pac would just follow the Big10’s lead and shoot for October. There’s not going to be much of a difference in testing, vaccines, or anything else but image in that one month.