So as the Nation continues to fuck around with COVID-19, the Big Ten collectively decided that it would be best — at least at this time — to not contribute to the abundant spread of the virus and postpone the fall football season becoming the first power five Conference to do so. Instead, the conference will look to resume play during the Spring, that is if the United States can get its shit together and actually put together a solid plan to corral the pandemic.
Following a morning meeting of the conference’s presidents, the Big Ten on Tuesday decided to cancel the college football season for fall 2020 with hopes of playing in spring 2021. With this decision, the Big Ten has become the first Power Five conference to decide not to play this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
…
Big Ten coaches — including Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Penn State’s James Franklin and Nebraska’s Scott Frost — publicly advocated for playing the 2020 season on Monday. However, their pleas and those of Big Ten players were not enough to change the collective minds of Big Ten leaders.Â
In a statement released Tuesday, the Big Ten announced that “multiple factors” including the “medical advice and counsel” from its experts led to what it is deeming the “postponement of the 2020-21 fall sports season.”Â
“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,” said Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren. “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.Â
“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.”
I applaud the Big Ten by taking the proactive approach to the season as opposed to the reactive one that MLB and in some cases the NFL is having to deal with. In fact I think we can see the oncoming shit storm that we may be in for when it comes to the National Football League.
Anyways, I don’t want to give too much credit to the Big Ten considering they also clearly balked at the opportunity to offer up some well-deserved concessions to their players who make everything possible. We saw the #WeWantToPlay and #WeAreUnited movement transcend among college football players who demanded that conferences take necessary steps to ensure their safety this upcoming season. It seems clear that the Big Ten was either not prepared or unwilling to grant those concessions — likely being afraid of setting any kind of precedent that players would begin to expect year-to-year.
I’ll go with the later.