NFL ready to seize upon college football cancellations

NFL Ready

Posted By: County Sports Network August 14, 2020

NFL READY TO SEIZE UPON COLLEGE FOOTBALL CANCELLATIONS

By STEVE KING

The NFL seems gilded.

Again.

Still.

Back in March, when winter was giving way to spring, the coronavirus pandemic began spreading like fire and swallowed up everything in its wake, bringing the country to a screeching halt in nearly every way, shape and form. Sports were not spared, either, including Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NHL and the NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Basketball tournaments.

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But the NFL, which was not playing at that time, of course, stayed right on its offseason schedule and marched forward undisturbed with things that could be done – just as well, it turned out – virtually, such as its two most popular endeavors, free agency and the draft. The telecast of the draft, in fact, drew all-time ratings highs thanks to millions of sports-starved viewers.

Now, here it is all these months later, and the NFL has found itself in – possibly – a great situation again. Though stumbling along a bit, MLB is back onto the field, the NBA has returned to the court and the NHL is back onto the ice.

But college football, the NFL’s major TV sports competitor on the weekends, has been tackled for a monumental loss. The Big Ten, Pac-12 and Mid-American Conference have cancelled their 2020 seasons. Those leagues may soon be joined – and in fact probably will be joined — by the three remaining Power 5 conferences, the SEC, ACC and Big 12.

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But even if those last three leagues somehow play their seasons, college football has already been decimated enough to allow the NFL to swoop in and move some games to Saturday to fill up the broadcasting void. Football-hungry fans would gobble off those NFL telecasts, some of which could be shown nationally and become ratings bonanzas.

Nothing has happened yet, but it soon could. You can bet that the NFL and the networks are already well into talks.

Now, all this, of course, is predicated on the NFL ready and able to avoid getting knocked cold by the coronavirus. I’m not convinced at all that it survives, but if it does, then it would be in an advantageous position to strengthen its already strong brand even more.

Stay tuned, literally and figuratively.

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