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The university sees the possibility of major liability;the athletic department sees loss of some controli

EastOfEden

Junior Varsity
15 Year Member
Every now and then something happens to make it clear that a university is not the athletic department. This is one of those. As long as the athletic teams bills are paid by the university, including damages from lawsuits, the university has to make the overriding key decisions.

In addition, the Athletic department has been run without any major input or obligation to its players beyond providing them the ability to attend classes without paying what others students have to pay and getting some free meal service at a training table. In most matters, the Athletic department through its employees is in complete charge of the rules, financial and otherwise, surrounding the activity.

But now...

1. No one knows yet of the long term impact of contracting the disease, but it seems very clear how it is transmitted from one person to another. Playing football, for example, amplifies the possibility of transmitting the disease from one payer to another. You're in each other faces and blowing the droplet carried bug from one person to another hour after hour. The chances are much grater than in a classroom where you can wear a mask and people are not yelling directly into your face. The possibility of spreading the disease is greater the more of this kind of activity takes place. So playing football increases the risk of getting the disease if someone else on your team or the team you are playing has it. Testing results take days, so an asymptomatic player can spread the disease among other players with test results coming in only a day or two after the contact has been made and no one even knows it is happening.

2. At this point research from a number of different places is producing results that suggest that there are long term and in some places probably chronic ill health that affects the patient, both heart and lung, regardless of the patient's age or physical condition. These studies have been well publicized and the heads of the universities cannot say that they are unaware of them. While not yet definitive, they are suggestive enough at this point that they cannot be ignored.

3. A good plaintiff's lawyer can assemble a lawsuit that can get by a motion to dismiss the case just on the basis of these two points if he or she gets one or more sick kids who played football in this environment. Grounds for a class action lawsuit probably exists. And even even if just one football player died from contracting this stuff, Katie bar the door. Waivers of liability between the mammoth university and a wet behind the ears 19 year old kid wouldn't protect the university from suit. The university's insurance carrier, if it had any, probably would resist honoring any claims the university might make against it when it knew the risks and took them anyway.

4. Even at just the Athletic department level, the virus complications have now generated a much more organized effort than before on the part of the players to get a larger share of the money and control involved in their programs, and to have more of a say in how that activity is conducted.The Athletic Departments can see losing some control and perhaps having to deal in the future with a union-like organization instead of operating as a dictatorship as it traditionally has within the university organization's limitations. They are just not ready to deal with that yet.
 



Virus contraction can be nearly possible to pin down. The real problem is there is a segment that feels that we can protect everyone from everything and we can't. That simple. Do what we can now to slow it down (masks, social distancing, etc) as we wait for effective treatment for those who become critically ill and a vaccine for those not exposed already. You don't make the virus go away by closing the doors. This thing is going to run through the population eventually....its a matter of pace and what that pace means to the healthcare system. I'm not that worried about a season of football but I'd be less worried about lawsuits. At some point I'd think there will be some exclusions of liability to keep the institutions upright and sound vs. allowing vulture lawyers finding fault where this in no fault.
 
Funny but I can't recall any lawsuits involving the universities in cases of influenza or any past viruses that have infected the student population while they remained open. What am I missing?
Influenza is a disease that has been around for hundreds of years if not longer, and is generally understood: COVID-19 is new, and we still don't know the ramifications of getting it. There were three influenza outbreaks in the 20th century, the last over 50 years ago. I don't recall anything from that long ago.

Influenza and COVID-19 aren't very analogous, and the lack of legal action over influenza doesn't really help your argument. If you want lawsuits for universities not taking due care for students or faculty, I'm sure you'll be able to find them using your favorite search engine.
 
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If they take away the football season, couldn't someone still sue for getting the virus because the schools took away their support structure, testing systems, etc? I think you could just as easily argue that that the school is creating more risk for the student athletes by cancelling. So there is potential liability with either way you go.
 



If they take away the football season, couldn't someone still sue for getting the virus because the schools took away their support structure, testing systems, etc? I think you could just as easily argue that that the school is creating more risk for the student athletes by cancelling. So there is potential liability with either way you go.

I‘m not a lawyer, but it seems that it would be hard to argue that a university is responsible for what students do on their own off campus. That said, cancelling sports while having athletes going to classes on campus doesn’t seem to me to lessen the liability issues. But maybe someone with a legal background can chip in.
 
Is this issue really any different for the university's liability than it would be for a debilitating injury during practice or a game?
 
If they take away the football season, couldn't someone still sue for getting the virus because the schools took away their support structure, testing systems, etc? I think you could just as easily argue that that the school is creating more risk for the student athletes by cancelling. So there is potential liability with either way you go.

folks can get sued by anyone, at any time, and for anything.
 



How about this scenario. Football is cancelled, but football player gets Covid just by attending classes, spreads it to other teammates/students he sees at school...and tragically gets worse and suffers irreparable damage. He sues because he caught it at school and because he wasn't getting tested as often as he would have been had he been attending football practices, the situation worsened. That would be just as likely as anything. We've already seen the reports where the college players actually tested positive while attending parties at school...nothing related to getting it from practicing football. The entire situation staggers incredibility, doesn't it?

Whether or not students play sports while on campus should be irrelevant if the campuses are allowing students to attend classes, stay in dorms, eat at Dining Halls, etc...There is ZERO logic behind preventing sports to be played while there.
 


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