- The Las Vegas sports scene has been hit hard by COVID-19 this week with the UNLV cancellation and multiple players potentially sidelined on the NFL Las Vegas Raiders roster.
- The Mountain West Conference has also canceled Thursday’s game between Utah State and Wyoming.
- Currently, there are 14 college football games originally scheduled for this week that have been cancelled or postponed.
While the NFL Las Vegas Raiders have their hands full with a COVID-19 situation just about 15 miles away the UNLV football team has their own problems. Due to four positive COVID-19 tests in the football program the weekend game against Colorado state has been called off. Technically, it could be rescheduled but since there are currently no open dates for either team the Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting it as a ‘cancellation’. If it can’t be replayed, it’ll go down as a ‘no contest’ in Mountain West record books. On the other hand, the Don Best live odds feed is still referring to the game as ‘postponed’:
UNLV’s athletics website had the news front and center at shortly after 1:00 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday:
UNLV Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francois released this statement about the cancellation:
“Based on four positive COVID-19 test results in our football program, the resulting contact tracing, and consulting with our medical and epidemiology experts, UNLV will not travel this weekend for its scheduled game at Colorado State and has informed the Mountain West and Colorado State. “
“Over the past six weeks, more than 2,600 tests have been administered to UNLV football student-athletes, coaches and staff with a positivity rate of less than 0.6 percent. Unfortunately, with a surge in cases in the Las Vegas community and despite the efforts of our student-athletes, coaches and staff to adhere to health and safety protocols, the decision to not play this weekend is in the best health and safety interests of all involved.”
UNLV first year head football coach Marcus Arroyo was much more succinct:
“We are very disappointed to not be playing CSU this weekend but understand the circumstances. The health and safety of our players and staff remains our top priority and we are proud of the lengths everyone has gone through to play football in 2020. We look forward to playing again as soon as possible.”
Southern Nevada has been hit hard by the worldwide rebound in COVID-19 infections. Late last week, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced that he’d tested positive for the coronavirus. On Wednesday, he indicated that a new round of restrictive measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 in Nevada will be announced ‘very soon’.
Also on Wednesday, the Mountain West Conference cancelled Utah State’s game at Wyoming in Laramie scheduled for Thursday due to an ‘upward trend’ of COVID-19 cases in the Aggies’ football program. Unlike the UNLV/CSU game the conference has already confirmed this game will not be replayed and will be graded a ‘no contest’.
The weekend college football betting board has been decimated by COVID-19 related postponements and cancellations. Currently, the Don Best screen is showing 14 games originally scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday as cancelled/postponed:
THURSDAY:
UTAH STATE AT WYOMING
FRIDAY:
UAB AT UTEP
SATURDAY:
GEORGIA TECH AT MIAMI-FL
WAKE FOREST AT DUKE
NAVY AT SOUTH FLORIDA
CHARLOTTE AT MARSHALL
ARIZONA STATE AT COLORADO
UNLV AT COLORADO STATE
HOUSTON AT SMU
MISSISSIPPI AT TEXAS A&M
TEXAS AT KANSAS
TULANE AT TULSA
UL MONROE AT LOUISIANA
CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT UL LAFAYETTE
