Sports
7A
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Th e Observer
Big Ten, Pac-12 cancel fall football seasons
Conferences’ decisions
also include delay of
other fall sports
By Ralph Russo
Associated Press
A crumbling college football
season took a massive hit Tuesday,
Aug. 11, as the Big Ten and Pac-
12, two historic and powerful
conferences, succumbed to the
pandemic and canceled their fall
football seasons.
Five months almost to the day
after the fi rst spikes in corona-
virus cases in the U.S. led to the
cancellation of the NCAA basket-
ball tournaments, the still raging
pandemic is tearing down another
American sports institution: fall
Saturdays fi lled with college
football.
“This was an extremely diffi -
cult and painful decision that we
know will have important impacts
on our student-athletes, coaches,
administrators and our fans,”
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott
said. “We know nothing will ease
that.”
Despite pleas from players,
coaches and President Donald
Trump in recent days to play on,
40% of major college football
teams have now decided to punt
on a fall season, a decision that
will cost schools tens of millions
of dollars and upends traditions
dating back a century.
Tony Avelar/AP fi le photo
In this Dec. 6, 2019, fi le photo, Oregon safety Jevon Holland (8) breaks up a pass for Utah wide receiver
Jaylen Dixon (25) during the fi rst half of the Pac-12 Conference championship NCAA college football game
in Santa Clara, California. Both the Pac-12 and Big Ten on Tuesday, Aug. 11, announced they were canceling
the fall football season.
Both conferences cited the risk
of trying to keep players from con-
tracting and spreading the coro-
navirus when the programs are
not operating in a bubble like the
NBA and NHL are doing. They
also cited the broader state of the
pandemic in the United States,
which has had more than 5 million
cases of COVID-19.
“Every life is critical,” fi rst-
year Big Ten Commissioner Kevin
Warren told AP. “We wanted to
make sure we continually, not only
in our words but in our actions, do
put the health and safety and well-
ness of our student-athletes fi rst.”
Two smaller conferences, the
Mid-American and Mountain
West, had already announced the
uncertain move to spring football.
The decisions by the deep-pock-
eted Big Ten and Pac-12, with
hundred million-dollar television
contracts and historic programs,
shook the foundation of college
sports.
What’s next?
The Southeastern Conference
and Atlantic Coast Conference
released statements expressing
cautious optimism. The Big 12
was conspicuously quiet, at least
publicly. Outside the Power Five
conferences, the American Ath-
letic Conference, Conference USA
and Sun Belt made no immediate
moves.
“Everyone is going to make
their independent decisions
and I certainly respect our col-
leagues,” Scott said. “We try to
be very collaborative, commu-
nicative with our peers across
the country. But at the end of the
day, our presidents and chancel-
lors looked at what was in best
interest of Pac-12 student-ath-
letes based on the advice and
frankly what’s going on in our
communities.”
The Big Ten said it was post-
poning all fall sports and hoping
to make them up in the second
semester. An hour later, the Pac-
12, the Big Ten’s Rose Bowl
partner, said all sports would be
paused until Jan. 1, including
basketball.
Players around the country
were stunned. Many had recently
taken to social media with the
hashtag We Want to Play. Ohio
State star quarterback Justin Fields
was among the players trying to
present a unifi ed front and save
their season, but it didn’t matter.
After the announcement, Fields
simply posted to Twitter: “smh,”
short for shaking my head.
“Our lives are changing forever
right before our eyes,” Arizona
offensive lineman Donovan Laie
tweeted.
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