To be fair, RL also doesn't super villains, heroes, etc like this world does. That logically should be accounted for. I see one or two options, that could be plausible. I've not read the post btw.
1. This could've happened in the past and been covered up, somehow, or not investigated yet. Newspapers tend to be known in the comicbook and RL to cover key aspects, some times important ones, to bring calm to the nation. Think about WWII, we censored EVERYTHING when it came down to media over anything to do with the nuke project. It's not totally impossible this could be something like that, covered in another incident?
2. The game could not be connected to the football season, but a thing done by two different schools since their one game got cancelled. So it's like a big finale that is less for competition and more for fun, requiring little editing or change, and the when doesn't really matter. It might not make full sense but honestly, not everything a school/uni/etc does. It could be a tradition that they just now got around to with everything that has happened.
Regarding the timeline, I find it's best to handwave these things away unless they're essential to the story. After all, comics have always had a sliding timeline. Despite running for 100+ issues, I can't think of a time when Peter Parker was on summer vacation in Ultimate Spider-Man, for example.
Heroes never have summer vacation, even when they are off school...