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Will College Soccer Return This Fall

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For Women’s soccer, and Women’s College soccer in particular, I find the work of Chris Henderson at All White Kit relevant and enlightening. So when he starts bringing numbers to the question of when/whether college soccer will return, he get’s my attention.

An economist explored the issue today in the New York Times: College Is Worth It, but Campus Isn’t Bringing millions of students back to campus would create enormous risks for society but comparatively little educational benefit, an economist says.

Here’s a scarily plausible chain of events. Colleges bring students back to campus — where they act like college students. They meet over coffee, go to parties and bars, pair off on dates and congregate in crowded dorms. The virus quickly spreads among students, who mostly recover quickly or are entirely asymptomatic.

But soon the virus reaches the older, more vulnerable members of the faculty and staff, as well as local residents. Infections surge. Teaching hospitals care for the ill at the larger universities, but small, regional hospitals near rural colleges are quickly overwhelmed.

Given the enormous health risks involved in bringing students back, why are so many colleges promising to open their campuses? The answer is simple: Their financial survival depends on it.

Williams College, who have won 3 of the last 5 DIII Women’s National titles, has announced the cancellation of all sports for the season as one example.

The Chicago Tribune explored the topic in a discussion around college football, as sacrosanct a sport as there could be. Their two college sportswriters offered the following thoughts

Shannon Ryan: Capitalizing on sports fans’ boredom seems easy, but evidence is pouring in that this experiment is not only a foolish pursuit but a dangerous one. Houston canceled voluntary workouts after six football players tested positive. Alabama, Auburn, Florida State and West Virginia are among dozens of teams to report cases. LSU quarantined 30 athletes to contain the spread. It’s safe to assume most colleges that welcomed back athletes are following similar safety protocols.

This isn’t working even with the most precautionary procedures in place.

Teddy Greenstein: So true about money. It’s driving all of this. Campuses are reopening because schools are worried that parents won’t write the tuition checks for virtual learning. And schools are scared to give college football the Heisman stiff-arm because up to 80% of their athletic departments’ revenue goes poof.

The Inside Higher Education website which I’ve referenced in the past looked at the upcoming semester in a report titled Lurching Toward Fall, Disaster on the Horizon.

Here is a hard fact: the virus will be far more present in far more places when school starts in August than it was when most schools shut down in March.

The resources necessary for testing, quarantining and caring for students, staff and faculty do not appear to be in place. The presidents of the three largest state institutions in Virginia say they need $200 million to cover coronavirus mitigation expenses. The three campuses say they would like to conduct nearly 20,000 tests per day, which is double the current per-day capacity for the entire state.

This must be achieved in less than two months.

It’s worth reading the article as the author is a proponent of classroom teaching but like the opening quote above has ‘mounting skepticism’. Where do you fall on that spectrum? Will your child head for campus or are you getting class credits locally at a less expensive rate via online options?

If you want to explore this further, THE ATLANTIC is holding a webinar with a range of speakers that will look in greater detail at the issues involved.

SPORTS SCHEDULES
Looking at our local programs in relation to his comment above:
SIUE Women – no schedule
SIUE Men – no schedule
SLU Women – no schedule
SLU Men – no schedule
Mizzou – no schedule
Missouri State Women – no schedule
Missouri State Men – no schedule
UMKC Women – one game listed August 21st
UMKC Men – one game listed on August 22nd
Illini – no schedule
SIUC – 11 game schedule between Aug 21 and Sep 30
Illinois State – no schedule

College must play 11 games in order to get credit for offering the sport in terms of Title IX