Fans are skeptical of a Power 5 break from the NCAA

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged in Virginia Tech Hokies fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.

While the current landscape of college athletics is changing more than any time before it, and fans are mixed on if changes are going to last.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, conferences across the country have made their own decisions on the 2020 football season, taking the NCAA out of the equation entirely. This has caused conversations about a possible Power 5 conference break from the NCAA.

However, according to the most recent SB Nation Reacts survey, a slight majority of fans don’t think this is the breaking point.

Across the survey fans appear to treat 2020 like an anomaly and not allow this year to change anything going forward. Even if that means missing out on large chunks of games played. However, we don’t have the voting results by conference which would have been interesting to see. How will this year’s decision not to play by the Pac-12 and the Big Ten impact the Power 5 relationships in seasons ahead.

Almost two-thirds of fans said it’s not worth playing football games in the spring, a plan floated by some in order to have games played by all schools during the current academic year, if next season’s games are affected.

The issue with spring games would be the shortened window before the Fall 2021 season kicks off, as well as how that impacts the NFL draft. With the NCAA approving another year of eligibility for players, it seems more likely that games that aren’t played this fall will not be pushed to a new spring season.

For now, all focus in the college athletics world is on the football season. But it won’t take long for the basketball season to come back around. The end of one season has already been lost, so it would stand to reason that league officials may try to find a way to protect against further cancellations.

Fans, however, don’t expect that fix to be at a bubble. Only 39 percent of fans think there will be any kind of a bubble for the NCAA basketball season.

We’ve seen bubbles work for the MLS, NBA and NWSL, while traveling to play games has caused continuous postponed games for MLB. A bubble for college athletes has many more complications, such as cost, location, and oh yeah, classes. However if the virus is still impacting the country come March, a bubble NCAA Tournament could be a possibility.

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