Arizona Bowl |
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The fate of another college football game is now in question because of the Covid. Boise State has pulled out of the upcoming Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl due to an outbreak among its players.
Main facts
- Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy made the announcement on Twitter Monday afternoon, saying organizers “are actively looking for a replacement.”
- Arizona Bowl is historically a lower tier game in the playoff schedule, but this year’s event was more anticipated due to Barstool Sports, a controversial digital media company, which owns the sponsorship rights. and dissemination of the event.
- Central Michigan, the other team that was scheduled to play in the Arizona Bowl, could now be moved to play in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, according to Sports Illustrated.
- The Sun Bowl had only one team – Washington State – after the University of Miami withdrew on Sunday due to a Covid epidemic.
- Both matches will take place on New Years Eve.
What to watch out for
After the announcement of Boise State’s withdrawal, Dave Portnoy immediately pressed Washington State to conduct a survey of its players to decide whether the team wanted to stay in the Sun Bowl or move on to the Arizona Bowl, but Sports Illustrated reported that Washington State is committed to staying in the Sun Bowl. The Sun Bowl has a payout of $ 4.55 million, while the Arizona Bowl payout is $ 350,000.
The context
The rise in the number of Covid cases among college football players has prompted organizers to scramble to fill vacancies, and three games have had to be canceled entirely. The Military Bowl and Wasabi Fenway Bowl were both canceled on Sunday, while Hawaii Bowl organizers announced on Thursday that their game would be canceled. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, new cases of Covid in the United States reached the highest level since January, with the country recently recording an average of almost 200,000 new cases per day. Senior health officials are sounding the alarm over the novel, highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, warning that this strain will cause the Covid peak to continue to grow in the United States.
Last month, an Insider article reported on allegations of sexual abuse by three women who had contact with Dave Portnoy. The founder of Barstool Sports categorically denied the allegations, calling the article a “stunt” and saying he had never had sex without consent.
Article translated from Forbes US – Author: Nicholas Reimann
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