The Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday it will play football this fall, a stunning reversal from the league's move last month to push back the 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The alliance of 14 universities, representing some of the nation's most prestigious schools and storied football programs, will be back on the football field the weekend of Oct. 23-24, the league announced.
"The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) adopted significant medical protocols and has voted unanimously to resume the football season starting the weekend of October 23-24, 2020," according to conference statement.
Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren defended the league's 180-degree turn, saying that conditions — specifically, rapid testing technology — had changed.
"This is a fluid situation, and we always wanted to make sure we put the health and safety of our student athletes at the forefront," Warren told reporters.
"We need to adapt. The world that we live in today ... we need to be able to adapt, and based upon the standards that were set by our chancellors and presidents from day one is that we need to make sure we create an environment that will allow for our student athletes to participate in intercollegiate athletics in a healthy and safe environment."
Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro said Big Ten leaders were uniform in their decision to move forward with fall football.
"The medical advice I relied on when I voted five weeks ago said there was virtually no chance" to safely play football in 2020, Schapiro said. "The facts change, our minds changed."
New protocols will include daily testing for players and team staff starting on Sept. 30, and each university is to appoint an infection officer to oversee testing. Other safety measures are to include:
- Any player who tests positive for the coronavirus will be sidelined for 21 days.
- Players who test positive must also "undergo comprehensive cardiac testing" before getting back on the field.
- If a team's positive-test rate tops 5 percent, all of its practices and games will stop for at least seven days.
"What we’re putting forward still requires prevention; it requires accountability from everyone involved … to be doing the things to prevent getting this infection," said Dr. Jim Borchers, head team physician at Ohio State and co-chair of Big Ten's Return to Competition Task Force medical subcommittee.
"Our progress will be measured by their efforts."
The conference said Aug. 11 that it was too risky to play with America still struggling to contain the virus that's killed nearly 200,000 Americans. The plan was to stage an unprecedented spring football season, if the virus was under control.
But that move drew immediate pushback from football-loving critics, particularly at Ohio State University and the University of Nebraska, who insisted the sport could be played safely.
And in recent days, proponents of fall football argued that improvements in rapid coronavirus testing could answer concerns cited in last month's Big Ten announcement to postpone pigskin action and all other fall sports.
The pressure to strap on helmets this fall has grown in recent weeks, as three other prominent college football conferences went forward with shortened seasons. Schools of the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences have already played games in front of limited crowds, and the powerful Southeastern Conference kicks off on Sept. 26.
The new Big Ten football schedule will be released later this week, Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Lee Alvarez said.
Each team will play eight scheduled games before the final weekend, when the first-place team of the West Division will play the top side of the East Division for the conference championship.
Also on that last weekend, the two second-place teams will face off, the third-place teams will play each other, and so on, thus providing each school with nine games.
The Big Ten announcement on Wednesday did not mention if any fans would be allowed into stadiums for games.
Notre Dame, which is not in the Big Ten but plays home games in South Bend, Indiana, the same Midwest region as most of the conference's teams, opened its season this past Saturday playing in front of a limited crowd of 10,097.
The conference's announcement about football did not cover potential starting dates for any other fall sport postponed due to coronavirus concerns. When those sports do return, athletes will have to submit to daily testing, the Big Ten said Wednesday.
"Eventually all Big Ten sports will require testing protocols before they can resume competition," the conference said.
"Updates regarding fall sports other than football, as well as winter sports that begin in the fall including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and wrestling, will be announced shortly."
The Big Ten's about-face leaves the Pacific-12 Conference as the lone Power 5 league not yet committed to fall football. Pacific-12 officials have hinted recently they could return to play sooner than expected due to advancements in rapid testing.
The sport's top level, the Football Bowl Subdivision, holds a postseason tournament that is not under control of the NCAA. Instead, the four-team knockout competition is administered by the College Football Playoff which expects to pick those semifinalists on Dec. 20.
The championship game is set for Jan. 11, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It wasn't immediately clear Wednesday if Big Ten teams could be considered, given this delayed start.
President Donald Trump claimed credit for allegedly pressing the Big Ten to play this fall.
"Thank you to the players, coaches, parents, and all school representatives," he tweeted. "It is my great honor to have helped!!!"
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Big Ten reverses field, set to play football this autumn after all - NBC News
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