Brian Rauf | @brauf33 | 08/10/20
The COVID-19 epidemic is in the process of claiming another sport with reports that the Big Ten is cancelling their football season with every other power conference on the verge of following suit (the MAC was the first to cancel their football season on Saturday).
The financial impact of not playing a college football season will have a hugely destructive financial impact on virtually every Division I school. According to ESPN, schools are set to lose over $4 billion without football, which comes on the heels of a $375 million loss resulting from the 2020 NCAA Tournament being cancelled.
In most cases, football and men’s basketball are the two sports that bring in enough revenue to fund a school’s entire athletics department with football carrying the sizable load – especially in power conferences. Over 60 percent of a department’s operative revenue comes from football, according to a recent report from USA Today.
Brian Rauf is a college basketball writer for HeatCheckCBB.com. His content has been featured by Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, and FanSided, among other publications. Rauf is also a current USBWA member and Rockin’ 25 voter.