Coronavirus is Tackling College Football Field All Across the Globe

As the coronavirus continues to spread, many wonder how it will affect college students, specifically athletes, with fall semester beginning.

A football player who attends California University of Pennsylvania died from battling COVID-19. His name was Jamain Stephens, the son of former Steelers offensive tackle Jamain Stephens.

According to ESPN.com “Penn State had 20 student-athletes test positive for COVID-19 in its latest round of testing, which included 830 total tests, the school announced Wednesday. The testing period was from Sept. 12-18.” University of Alabama officials reported that they had recorded more than 500 cases since their campus re-opening.

This raises fear the parents and students who thought they would be safe because the schools were able to re-open.“Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley told reporters that an entire position group — save one player — had to stop practicing because of positive tests”

Not only has the pandemic affected students , it also had an impact on the money that was being bought into the school for the Athletic department.

Ohio State's athletic department is projecting a $107 million deficit for fiscal year 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, prompting department-wide budget cuts and the elimination of 25 full-time positions. Some football teams have been able to play, however there were no fans in the stands and limited

workers on the field. Majority of the games were canceled or postponed to a later date, in hopes of stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

Ohio state is not the only school that is having financial trouble, North Carolina state is as well.

North Carolina State has handed down salary reductions and furloughs on its staff to counterbalance the $25 million-$35 million loss in revenue.” As of right now, there is no guarantee that the games that were postponed will be postponed again due to the reduced cases of Covid-19.

In the beginning of the pandemic Texas was a state that was hit hard. However, “18,000 fans are expected to attend the Longhorns’ first game in person, said John Bianco, a spokesperson for the university's athletic department, in an email.

Local health officials in Austin have repeatedly raised concerns about the dangers of hosting such a large, in-person event at this time.

Escott said he expected that “perhaps 40 to 50 people of that 25,000 that will show up with COVID-19.” While it is a tug of war between whether or not the games should proceed, it leaves in the air the athletic scholarships that students have which may go away if they do not play this season.