Report: Big Ten presidents sideline football for 2020
(WLNS/KSNT) – The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday all fall sports are postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This includes football, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
“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. 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.”
“We know how significant the student-athlete experience can be in shaping the future of the talented young women and men who compete in the Big Ten Conference. Although that knowledge made this a painstaking decision, it did not make it difficult. While I know our decision today will be disappointing in many ways for our thousands of student-athletes and their families, I am heartened and inspired by their resilience, their insightful and discerning thoughts, and their participation through our conversations to this point. Everyone associated with the Big Ten Conference and its member institutions is committed to getting everyone back to competition as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren
The conference said it will evaluate the possibility of competing in the spring.
The NFL draft is scheduled for April, which could cause elite players to opt out of playing the college season to avoid injury before the pro draft.
The Pac-12 is expected to decide if games will be played this fall in that conference. That decision could lead to other conferences curtailing major college football this fall.
The Mid-American Conference officially canceled its season Saturday.
The Big 12 Conference has not made an announcement yet.