President Trump continued his push to get major college football teams back on the gridiron in spite of hurdles stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking with reporters during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, Trump congratulated officials with the Big 10 college football conference for announcing a restart to their league and said he was hopeful that the Pacific-12, a West Coast conference stretching from the University of Washington to the University of Arizona, could resume games in a timely manner.
“I want to recommend that the PAC-12 also get going. Because there is no reason why PAC-12 should not be playing now,” Trump said. “PAC-12, you are the only one now. Open up, open up, PAC-12. Get going. I said the same thing to Big 10, and they did, and now, I’m saying it to PAC-12. You have time. You really have time right now. Get going.”
Trump accused 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden of spreading “a disinformation rumor” that he didn’t want college football teams to play this season because of the virus. Trump said he has been supportive of colleges resuming their fall seasons and heralded the work of Big 10 Commissioner Kevin Warren, who announced Wednesday that football will restart in October for teams of the Midwestern conference.
“There was a rumor being spread that I didn’t want football back, and it was just the opposite,” Trump said. “I called the [Big-10] commissioner … and we started really putting a lot of pressure on, frankly, because there was no reason for it not to come back. And Kevin … worked very hard. I want to thank the players, the coaches for working along. And they wanted it very badly. The players and coaches, in particular. The parents also. And Big 10 football just announced … their schedule. And it’s going to be great.”
Trump backed measures put in place to test and quarantine players who test positive for the disease. On Tuesday, Louisiana State University coach Ed Orgeron confirmed that “most” of the players on his team had contracted the virus at some point since the team returned to training in early June.
