Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields runs with the ball during the 2019 Big Ten championship.
Photo: Michael Conroy/Associated PressThe Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences voted on Tuesday to postpone college football and other fall sports because of the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could begin the final unraveling of a lucrative season that collegiate sports officials have labored for months to save.
“As time progressed and after hours of discussion…it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall,” said Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren in a statement. The league will evaluate the possibility of playing the affected sports—which also include cross-country, field hockey, football, soccer and volleyball—in the spring.
“Unlike professional sports, college sports cannot operate in a bubble,” said Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, adding that winter sports also will not compete until Jan. 1, 2021 at the earliest. “When conditions change we will be ready to explore all options to play the impacted sports in the new calendar year.”
With two of the five most powerful leagues punting on fall and some winter sports, the pressure on the rest of college football’s major conferences immediately ratcheted up. The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference issued statements around the same time Tuesday evening expressing confidence that the medical protocols in place on their campuses would permit safe athletic competition.
In the Big 12 Conference, whose Board of Directors met Tuesday morning, calls will continue throughout the week, said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby in a text message. When asked whether his league would play football in the fall while the Big Ten and Pac-12 hold out he replied, “Not currently known.”
The run-up to a decision in recent days played out as an intense power struggle between university administrators, powerful coaches and star athletes.
College administrators have become increasingly concerned about growing evidence that athletes who contract even mild cases of Covid-19 may be at increased risk of developing myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can be fatal if left untreated.
But the prospect of not playing this week brought vocal objections from some of college football’s biggest stars, such as Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The athletes early Monday had begun advocating, via a loose coalition, for a season to be held, provided certain safety and scholarship concerns were met.
At the same time, several of the Big Ten’s most prominent coaches this week came out against the idea that playing football this fall is unsafe. In an open letter, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh explained that his athletes are in a controlled environment on campus and have reported no new positive cases of Covid-19 in the last 353 tests administered. James Franklin of Penn State implored the Big Ten to preserve the season and provide “transparency & direction.”
Ohio State coach Ryan Day said that his program would “look at every option,” including playing teams outside the Big Ten, before giving up on the football season. Nebraska’s Scott Frost took things a step further with a quasi-mutiny from the conference, saying the school was prepared to look for options to play football beyond the Big Ten. No Pac-12 coaches have suggested forging ahead without the rest of the league.
The Pac-12 postponed all sport competitions through the end of the 2020 calendar year.
Photo: Ralph Freso/Associated PressAfter Tuesday’s announcement, Frost released a joint statement with Nebraska’s chancellor, system president and athletic director that they were disappointed with the conference’s decision.
“Based on the conversations with our medical experts, we continue to strongly believe the absolute safest place for our student athletes is within the rigorous safety protocols, testing procedures, and the structure and support provided by Husker Athletics,” the statement said.
Nebraska reportedly contacted several universities within a 500-mile radius of Lincoln, Neb., on Monday evening about scheduling games. It’s unclear, however, if universities, much less their football coaches, are authorized to go forward with such a plan.
Ohio State’s leaders also pushed back against the conference’s decision. Athletic director Gene Smith said that he and president-elect Kristina Johnson were “ totally aligned in our efforts to delay the start of the season rather than postpone.” Later, Smith clarified that Ohio State would not seek to play football this fall without the conference.
Postponing college football would be a far-reaching setback for the sports industry, which has been determined to resume play—and cut its financial losses—from the coronavirus shutdown. Unlike Major League Baseball, the NBA and others, college football was out of season when the pandemic was declared in March and had months to plan for a return.
Attempts to prepare for the 2020 season, however, have only highlighted the complexity of resuming play with college athletes, rather than professionals, playing a game that by its nature presents safety challenges for preventing the virus’s transmission.
Now, the loss of a college football season threatens enormous consequences, both for collegiate sports and higher education more broadly. Football is the financial engine of most college athletic departments, and losing the revenue associated with it could have a devastating impact on other sports. Big universities more broadly use their college football programs to help raise money and attract students. A handful of busy Saturdays during the football season serve as an economic lifeblood for the communities surrounding campus as well.
The Big Ten, founded in 1896, has never postponed or canceled an entire football season. Its schools have played through two world wars and the 1918 flu pandemic. Conference power Ohio State has played an annual fall schedule uninterrupted since 1890. Michigan has since 1891.
Since early March, the Big Ten’s Warren has insisted that the “health, safety and wellbeing of our student athletes is the first priority.” His own son plays football at Mississippi State.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 have acted more quickly than the other powerhouse conferences. The Big Ten made a surprise announcement on July 9 that it wouldn’t play any nonconference games, a move the Pac-12 echoed less than 24 hours later, setting up a wholesale reshuffling of the college football calendar.
As July stretched into August, six Big Ten programs experienced Covid-19 outbreaks large enough to temporarily suspend voluntary workouts. Testing at the remaining eight schools also revealed a handful of cases.
The Pac-12 reported fewer coronavirus cases—about 60 at the nine universities disclosing test results—but workouts still ran into obstacles. Arizona paused workouts in mid-July after a surge in cases in the surrounding Pima County.
Meanwhile, emerging research showed that even people who recovered from Covid-19 infection could suffer from heart irregularities. These weighed heavily in the Pac-12’s decision, said Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir.
“There are also still many unknowns with respect to the potential long-term health implications of the virus for those who contract it, even for young people who may not experience severe symptoms in the short term,” he said. “Competing this fall would introduce undue risk.”
Brady Feeney, a freshman offensive lineman at Indiana, was hospitalized after reporting trouble breathing several days after receiving a positive test result.
“Covid-19 is serious. I never thought that I would have serious health complications from this virus, but look at what happened,” he tweeted before commending Indiana for its health protocols.
The risks to athletes in going ahead with a season are running headlong into advocates for playing a season, who contend that players might be safer with regular testing than if left to their own devices.
“I think there will be pushback on some of the campuses if there’s no football from people who believe that those consequences were overrated or not accurately predictive,” said Jo Potuto, a law professor at Nebraska who served for two decades on various committees in the Big Ten, Big 12 and NCAA. “And schools will have to deal with that.”
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Write to Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com and Rachel Bachman at rachel.bachman@wsj.com
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