Both the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-12 Conference postponed their 2020-2021 fall sports seasons Tuesday due to the pandemic.
All regular-season games, championships, and tournaments are on hold. The decision affects not only football but also women’s volleyball, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, and cross country.
“The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall.”
“The health, safety and well-being of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports has been our number one priority since the start of this current crisis,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. “Our student-athletes, fans, staff and all those who love college sports would like to have seen the season played this calendar year as originally planned, and we know how disappointing this is.”
The announcements came a week after the Mid-American Conference canceled its fall football season. It was the first Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I) to do so.
Warren added that the Big Ten would “continue to evaluate a number of options regarding these sports, including the possibility of competition in the spring.” The Pac-12 will also consider letting affected sports continue after Jan. 1, 2021 if the pandemic improves. But whether spring competition would be feasible is an open question. It is particularly problematic for football, when the top players in the Big Ten and Pac-12 will be considering entering the NFL draft.
Nany players and four Big Ten football coaches (Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Penn State’s James Franklin, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, and Nebraska’s Scott Frost) had pleaded to delay the season only.
