ESPN CFB Broadcaster Chris Fowler Believes College Football Will Be Pushed Back To February

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – ESPN lead play-by-play broadcaster Chris Fowler thinks that the season will be pushed back to February, 2021.

Fowler posted a video on his IGTV as well as an interview with Sports Business Daily.

“I think it’s impossible,” Fowler said on IGTV about the chances that the 2020 college football season starts on time. “What is normal going to mean in society, in sports. I think normalcy will take a long time and this might be the new normal. But, I am convinced that we will have a college football season during the academic year of 2020-21.”

 

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We are 20 Saturdays from the SCHEDULED start of CFB.. so how likely is that looking? What scenarios are being weighed? When will we know more? Who’s gonna decide all this? You sure are asking a lot of questions! And I get it. I’m starving for answers too. So here’s some “informed speculation” on where we are now after checking in with folks this week. I can only be so specific and people don’t want their names attached to this topic right now. But… here goes. Please comment with your take if you like. #cfb #collegefootball #football #sports @espn @espncfb

A post shared by Chris Fowler (@chrisfowler) on Apr 11, 2020 at 10:44am PDT

Fowler has had conversations with people who are in the planning stages and going through the “what if” scenarios.

“The first scenario is that the season starts on time and isn’t altered much,” Fowler mentioned. “Time is running out though unless you feel like 4-6 weeks is a lot of time. I am told that by the end of May, there has to be clarity.”

Other Scenarios

Fowler thinks that it is very unlikely that the season will start on time but the folks around college football are planning on a couple of other possible scenarios that would allow the season to happen at some point.

“The season starts late and maybe gets shorten a bit,” Fowler said. “You start in November and end sometime in January. But then you have to worry about the virus potentially coming back in the winter and you don’t want to shut down a season before it even starts.”

Another scenario is starting the season after the NFL season concludes, assuming the NFL season starts on schedule.

“Football in the spring,” Fowler stated. “Beginning at some point in March and have the postseason in June. It might be bizarre. But, to avoid the financial disaster of having no football in the academic year might be a fall back position.”

Desperation To Get Sports Going

The sports world has been shut down since the second week of March. Over one month later, some leagues are trying to make plans as to when they can start back up and what the circumstances will be. The college realm is a little more unique than in the professional ranks.

“The desperation’s to get seasons going and what it might take to make that happen and radically different baseball season beginning mid-summer, summer NHL hockey to just get a season in. College is so much more problematic with the unpaid workforce of players but we have to give consideration to the unpaid workforce. Health and safety has to be absolutely paramount.”

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Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.