Despite the strange (but unshocking) attention President Trump has been paying to Big Ten’s decision to postpone fall sports to 2021, there will be no football this fall on campuses in Big Ten college towns. The pandemic has made that decision clear, and college towns like Champaign-Urbana will suffer in a variety of capacities because of it. That said, keeping our community safe from the virus is top priority, and as we all know, things have been removed from our lives temporarily to stop the spread. It is challenging but necessary.
Sports Illustrated published a featured “Daily Cover” story yesterday, which stuck C-U front-and-center on the discussion of college football towns and the pandemic. Pat Forde interviewed AD Josh Whitman, President of Visit Champaign County Jayne DeLuce, GM of Esquire Jackie Sampson, News-Gazette writer Loren Tate, and more.
You can read Forde’s article “‘It’s Devastating:’ The Stark Reality of a Fall Without Football Hits Home in Champaign” here.
Top image by Patrick Gorski/USA Today Sports (left); David E. Klutho (right).
