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Down, set, spread: The association between college football and COVID-19
Wanda E Leal1, Alex R Piquero2,3, Windy Dees4
1Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, USA.
Objectives:
Before the Fall 2020 semester, college presidents and the NCAA made decisions about playing college football. The current study aims to examine the association between college football games and COVID-19 infections at universities.
Participants:
More than 1,800 college campuses nationwide from The New York Times database on COVID-19 cases on college campuses.
Methods:
Random effects negative binomial regression is used to analyze the association between college football games, membership to college football organizations, and COVID-19 cases at the universities studied.
Results:
The number of football games played was significantly associated with higher COVID-19 cases at the universities studied. Membership to certain college football organizations was also significantly associated with higher COVID-19 cases, particularly FBS and Power Five conferences.
Conclusions:
These findings provide a baseline for subsequent analyses across other sports and advocates for continued assessment of protocols that ensure the safety and well-being of student-athletes, fans, and university communities.
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