Two Leaders...Two Opinions

 

I’ve been left to try and figure out the disjuncture between the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Champaign…and the governor of the state.

On one hand, you have a governor who says, “under no circumstances” will he put our children and their families at risk by having fall contact sports. He is crystal clear. This is a pandemic. No football in 2020.

But the leader of the land grant university in the state, Dr. Robert Jones, voted to start football back up in the Big Ten conference. Illinois plays Wisconsin on October 24^th in Big Ten play.

Here’s what the somewhat pompous U-of-I leader said.

“What allows me to sleep at night…as a scientist…as a scholar for several decades now…I’ve always learned to be driven by the data.”

Here’s my question…Is Dr. Jones looking at the same data the governor is looking at….or is he looking at the financials of his football program?

The Governor says it is too dangerous to play. The chancellor’s data indicates that Illini football generates over $30-million dollars a year. And they aren’t good.  That cash helps support sports like cross country, tennis, golf and gymnastics to just name a few. They don’t generate revenue. Football does.

So which is it? Who is right? Especially if they are they are looking at the same information.

This might be the first time I see J.B. Pritzker on a moral high ground.