Whether it’s a delayed college football season, a shortened season or even a season at all, Phil Steele has met his obligation.
The Phil Steele 2020 College Football Preview, a 350-page publication containing statistics, returning starters and predictions for all 130 Bowl Subdivision teams, was shipped out Wednesday to thousands of fans who annually consume the sport’s most comprehensive preseason magazine. The upcoming season, should it transpire, already has league-only games in the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences due to continuing concerns over the coronavirus, which certainly had an effect on Steele as well.
“I had a lot of wonder in March,” Steele said this week. “In Ohio, they closed our office down and all the employees were on unemployment – the entire staff. I was just sitting here at the office by myself, grinding away.
“When things reopened at the end of May and the start of June and the staff got back in, we went full bore on the magazine and were able to put in the same amount of effort and quality that we normally do.”
Steele typically produces 200,000 copies of his preseason magazine, but only 50,000 have been made this year. Distribution methods also have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with only Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million stocking his publication for those who didn’t order through philsteele.com.