There’s no point to beat around the bush, we know the deal at this point: on Sunday, presidents of Big Ten schools voted 12-2 to cancel the 2020 college football season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision will be formally announced on Tuesday.
When this happens, the Pac-12 is expected to immediately follow. In fact, this could even come as a joint announcement. This decision comes just days after the Mid-American Conference (MAC) canceled its 2020 season.
According to various reports, Kevin Warren — the commissioner of the Big Ten — prefers to host a spring 2021 football season. Currently, though, details are scant on that type of effort.
#BREAKING: The Big Ten will announce on Tuesday that the college football season will not happen this fall. https://t.co/fj0edo8G5j
— Freep Sports (@freepsports) August 10, 2020
During his radio show on Monday, veteran sports media personality/reporter Dan Patrick was the first to break the news. Iowa and Nebraska were the two Big Ten schools that voted in favor of playing football in 2020.
DP was told an hour ago that the Big 10 and Pac 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow… The ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence.. And the SEC is trying to get teams to join them for a season.
Watch live: https://t.co/sMaeXQkLfl pic.twitter.com/oSUNGMTEqw
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 10, 2020
After Power Five conference commissioners met on Sunday, ACC power brokers were supposed to meet Monday morning to further discuss the 2020 season. No official word has come from that meeting; reportedly the league is still undecided about how it will proceed.
According to Louisville coach Scott Satterfield, though, the league is prepared to go forward.
Satterfield said as of this morning he was told the ACC is moving forward no matter what other conferences do.
"That's what we will do until we hear otherwise."
— Cameron Teague (@cj_teague) August 10, 2020
Following months of collective indecision, leadership surrounding college football may be ready to hit the eject button. It was only four days ago that the ACC unveiled its updated 10-plus-1 schedule for the 2020 football season.
All of this is happening while a group of Power Five players, including Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, are working to form an association of some kind. The #WeWantToPlay movement has gathered some steam as it works to keep a 2020 season on a set of wobbly rails. (On Monday morning, Wake Forest University leadership, including president Dr. Nathan Hatch addressed and met with the team.)
That’s a tall task; however, seeing players organize, use their voices, while also remaining supportive of teammates and opponents that have already opted out is encouraging for the future of college athletics.
Update — 12:38 p.m.: According to college football reporter Bruce Feldman, four Big Ten football programs — Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska — are exploring discussions to potentially move to the Big 12 and play the 2020 football season.
As of right now, it’s unclear how serious and extensive these talks are — or if it’s legal or financially sensible for the schools to pursue this option. However, here we are.
RE: reports of Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State exploring potential move to the Big 12, source at one of those schools just told me, "That would be news to us."
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) August 10, 2020
Update — 2:44 p.m., Tuesday (8/11):
Following a vote of Big Ten presidents on Tuesday, the conference has chosen to postpone the 2020 fall football season. Hope remains for a season next spring. (Note: the conference voted to postpone all fall sports, not just football.)
BREAKING: The Big Ten presidents have voted to postpone the 2020 college football season with hopes of playing in the spring, per sources.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) August 11, 2020
As expected, not too long after the Big Ten’s announcement, the Pac-12 followed. The Pac-12 released noted that the conference will postpone all sports competitions for the remainder of 2020; this includes men’s and women’s basketball.
So many college administrators were hoping they'd be able to reach this point prior to a fall season. Accurate, rapid and affordable testing is the eventual goal. https://t.co/5VaO4Lx1cq
— Nicole Auerbach 😷 (@NicoleAuerbach) August 11, 2020
Read More on ACC + Big Ten Football
Complete list of ACC football players that have opted out of the 2020 season