FSU athletic director: ‘God help us’ if there’s no college football

Florida State athletic director David Coburn delivered one of the starkest, bluntest messages of any administrator yet about what will happen financially if the coronavirus pandemic wipes away the football season.

“I would just say God help us if that is the scenario,” Coburn told FSU’s board of trustees in a video conference Friday, according to the Tallahassee Democrat and Warchant.

Coburn said FSU, like most other programs, is exploring different scenarios about how the ongoing pandemic could affect sports and, thus, finances.

“I don’t think any of them will be pretty," Coburn said.

ACC programs have already lost a couple million dollars each after the pandemic wiped away part of its conference basketball tournament and all of March Madness. But a fall without football would be devastating.

Although Coburn did not give any details about how bad it would be, FSU brought in almost $69 million in football-related revenue during the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to figures submitted to the U. S. Department of Education.

The Seminoles’ athletic department has already experienced financial problems and is on the hook for millions of dollars over the coming years on coach Willie Taggart’s buyout.

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