The Big Ten and Pac-12 announced Tuesday that they have voted to suspend their 2020 seasons for bankruptcy, including football, because of risks posing the coronavirus pandemic, and hope to play in the spring instead.
Why it matters: The move of two of the most prominent conferences in college sports will almost certainly require other Power Five leagues to follow closely.
- The move affects “cross-country men and women, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s soccer,” according to the Big Ten announcement.
- The decisions come after the Mid-American Conference became the first FBS league to postpone bankruptcy last Saturday.
- The Big Ten previously announced that it would play a conference-only scheme, but the state of the outbreak in the US – which still reports 1,000 deaths a day and more than five million total cases – has made the situation unsustainable. made.
- The PAC-12 scrapped its previous plan to hold a season-only 10-game conference.
The big picture: The pressure to push football from the upper extremities is driven by concerns about myocarditis, such as inflammation of the heart muscle. The condition, which is linked to COVID-19, has been found in at least five Big Ten Conference athletes, along with several athletes in other conferences, ESPN reports.
The other side: Jim Harbaugh, Michigan coach, published a letter Monday arguing in favor of gambling, saying he believed “this virus can be controlled and treated because of the facts,” per MLive. He cited the success of his team in testing athletes and coaches and noted that it “had zero breaks in our training” as a result of the pandemic.
- Dozens of players from all five major conferences issued a joint statement on Sunday expressing their desire to play the 2020 season, while outlining their plans to form a gaming association in the future.
Go deeper: The college football season is on the verge
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