Fans across the world are rejoicing now that most sports are more or less back on full-time. While it’s exciting that sports are back, this does not mean that the excitement should supersede the safety of the fans and the players involved.
This isn’t to say that most professional and collegiate sports programs have bungled their regulations with COVID-19; this is to say that a select few have possibly ruined it for the others as evidenced by recent college football games, such as the matchup between the University of Georgia and Auburn University in which the stands were filled with fans who were not spaced out or made to wear masks.
The fact that Georgia didn’t require their fans to wear masks was not an error from the NCAA or the Southeastern Conference, as SEC guidelines dictate that “face coverings (over the nose and mouth) shall be required as a condition of all guest ingress, egress and movement throughout the stadium.”
In addition to this, Georgia said they would set a hard maximum of around 18,000 to 23,000 people in the stands. This was not the case, as anyone who was watching the game could see that this number had been surpassed by a wide margin.
Georgia deliberately eschewed the rules they said they would enforce in order to make more profit off of their fans and look better in the eyes of their students. This kind of blatant abuse of the rules is the biggest reason that COVID-19 is still such a major threat today. Georgia is a rotten example for the rest of the sports world for what they have done because they have made college football as a whole look ridiculous and ignorant of the rules and national sports look all the more risky looking as well.
By far the most egregious errors coming from college football have come from Louisiana State University, where they lifted the wellness checks required to enter Tiger Stadium and left it up to the fans whether or not they should be allowed to enter the stadium. As if that wasn’t enough, they also lifted the ban on alcohol sale in the stadium, making the already unmasked and large crowd even more rowdy and susceptible to COVID-19.
This abuse of guidelines extends well beyond college football as the Tennessee Titans made headlines with their recent outbreak of COVID-19. The outbreak nearly cost them a game since the NFL was strongly considering making the Titans forfeit due to their blatant ignorance of the rules since some reports suggested there were “several protocol incidents.”
The Titans continued to flaunt the rules even after they were forced to close because of these incidents as individual groups practiced outside of the facilities fully knowing they might be caught and risk their team forfeiting the game.
As sports fans, it’s hard not to be in favor of teams continuing to play, but it has become increasingly clear that some teams may not be able to handle themselves. It’s maddening to see that some teams and their owners have put profit margins and their reputation ahead of ensuring the safety of their players, employees and the fans that allow the sports industry to be so popular in the first place.
Nobody wants to see the season where Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen puts it all together cancelled, and nobody wants to miss out on another performance where Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James dominates in the finals. So, the question lies, how hard is it to just wear a mask and to stay six feet apart when possible?
For players and coaches who are paid millions of dollars and who have worked their whole lives just to even get an opportunity in the NFL, NBA or whatever league they might play in, it’s hardly too much to ask for them to simply follow the rules to ensure the whole world can continue to enjoy sports.