Notre Dame and Navy are scheduled to start the college football season with a game in Dublin, Ireland, but the COVID-19 pandemic could alter that plan.
The 2020 college football season is scheduled to begin with Notre Dame and Navy meeting in Dublin, Ireland for their Week Zero contest. However, due to the ongoing coronavirus global pandemic, the fate of that game is in jeopardy.
With international travel grounded, it’ makes it hard to envision a scenario today where the game takes place as currently scheduled. Of course, a lot can change between today, May 4 and August 29 when the game is to take place. But if I had tickets for the game, I would be feeling pessimistic about the chances of the game taking place in Dublin.
Considering the NFL announced on Monday they will not be playing any international games in 2020, it makes it difficult to envision a scenario where 100-plus student-athletes on top of coaching, medical and game day personnel will make the trip to Ireland.
Maybe the game still happens but it’s relocated to a neutral-site or played on campus. Today, I doubt the game will take place in Ireland. That opinion is shared by SEC Network host and unofficial voice of college football Paul Finebaum who expressed his pessimism.
“Of all the things that I would consider difficult right now, and there’s a long list of things, travel’s probably number one and international travel is ahead of being number one, Finebaum said on The JOX Roundtable 94.5. I don’t see how that’s possible right now,” Finebaum said.“As I say that, both schools would go on a chartered plane. But the other things that was interesting about that game, I think it was the Navy athletic director (Chet Gladchuk) that told me there were already 40,000 fans that had been ticketed to go to the game, which is the whole purpose of the game. It’s tourism for Dublin. I would say that game may still be on the calendar, but I cannot imagine it being played in Dublin.”
The tourism angle is a big angle to consider. The game is being held in Ireland because of the tie-in to make this a global event for the Fighting Irish and the Midshipmen.
Fans who already secured their travel arrangements to Dublin have to find a backup plan because travel agencies are canceling trips through October.
While the NCAA may consider playing games without spectators in the fans, it defeats the purpose of having the game in Ireland if fans can’t take in the spectacle of the event. It’s perfectly fine and acceptable to hope and root for the world to open up and for this game to take place as scheduled. Fans had looked forward to it for a long time. They don’t want to see it go away and they want the normalcy of a college football season taking place in the fall.
It’s why Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk didn’t entertain any thoughts that the game wouldn’t go on in comments to ESPN on April 9
“We’re going to play it,” Gladchuk told ESPN. “We expect this to pass. We’re not naïve. We’re five months away from that game happening. There’s a lot that could happen in five months. If the economy and the United States are still shut down in five months, we all have significant issues, more so than a game in Dublin.”
This falls in line with the thought processes of other athletic directors and university presidents across the country. They are preparing as if students will be allowed back on campuses and classes and athletic activity will resume in the summer or early fall. They have to plan for that and be prepared in case they can’t. But they can’t act as if there won’t be reopening later this year because that would be total anarchy and pure chaos. It’s best to be prepared and have a plan with contingencies in case the original plan can’t be carried out.
- Plan A: Game goes on in Dublin as scheduled
- Plan B: The Dublin game is postponed for a later year
- Plan C: Game is moved from Dublin to campus or neutral site
We’ll consider the doomsday scenarios later if we need to, but I’d rather not go down that road and be accused of being negative and not wanting college football to return. Of course, we all want college football to return.
Hopefully, the Notre Dame-Navy game will take place in Dublin and it will be a great experience for fans in attendance and for fans watching from the comfort of their home and it’ll be a great start to the 2020 college football season.
I’m just not going to bet on it taking place in Dublin.
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