News Room

COVID-19 is poised to overhaul the college sports playing field. With all the uncertainty surrounding fall sports, with the Big Ten and Pac-12 delaying all competition, the intercollegiate sports business model is ripe for structural changes. The #WeAreUnited movement is symptomatic of the discontent, frustration and concern among student athletes.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences pulled the trigger to delay (the better word is cancel) college football until the spring. The Big 12, Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences all seem intent to follow through and play this fall. Any conference decision to delay football, or any college sport for that matter, ensures that the sport will not be played this academic year. 

SierraSierra Imwalle, a real estate agent in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. When she shows houses to clients, she takes precautions: masks, distance, hand sanitizer. She’s avoiding the denser, usually crowded downtown area and steering clear of restaurants. Other people in Ann Arbor are also sticking to public health recommendations, she says. They’re wearing masks and following stay-at-home orders. “We’ve done a really good job maintaining a low number of cases,” she says.

Don't let the name fool you. Robotic process automation (RPA) isn't related in any way to physical robots. The technology does, on the other hand, have everything to do with automating manual, rule-based, and other repetitive business activities. An RPA software robot never sleeps and makes no mistakes. For enterprises in a wide range of fields, particularly financial services and healthcare, RPA has emerged to become a highly attractive, low-cost IT initiative.

The fall semester has not yet begun, and debates on college football are in full gear. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 have already delayed (interpreted as canceled) play until the spring, with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference still pondering their position but planning to start the season. Not far behind is college basketball, which ushered in the COVID-19 era with the cancellation of March Madness.