Trump Says 'You’re Not Gonna See' College Football Players Dying

President Trump reiterated his stance that he hopes college football is played this year because he doesn’t believe the players are at serious risk of the coronavirus.

“You’re not gonna see people dying,” Trump said on “Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis” Tuesday morning.

On Monday, Trump expressed his support for college football to start as planned in September amid rumblings that the sport’s biggest conferences could soon postpone or cancel the upcoming season. The president even tweeted a video with the #WeWantToPlay hashtag that some of college football’s top stars had been using.

Trump said he doubts players will get very sick because of the coronavirus, noting that doctors have told him college players are in great physical shape.

“He said these people are so powerful and so strong, and not lots of body fat, although you could take a couple of offensive linemen perhaps and dispute that. But not a lot of body fat, maybe none in some cases,” Trump said. “And they’re very healthy people. People don’t realize it’s a tiny percentage of people that get sick and they’re old. It just attacks old people, especially old people with a bad heart, diabetes, or some kind of physical problem. A weight problem.

“These football players are very young, strong people, physically. They’re in extraordinary shape. So they’re not gonna have a problem.”

While the death rate for young adults that contract the coronavirus remains low, a heart condition that could be linked to COVID-19 has raised concern among conference administrators about playing football during the pandemic. The Big Ten discovered that five of its athletes have myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, ESPN reports.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences are expected to vote Tuesday on whether to play football this year. The Mountain West and MAC have already canceled the 2020 season.

Trump also said he supports the NFL going forward with its planned start date of Sept. 10, but on one condition.

“If they don’t stand for the national anthem, I hope they don’t open,” Trump said of the NFL. “But other than that I’d love to see them open, and we’re doing everything possible for getting them open. They can protest in other ways. They shouldn’t protest our flag or our country.”