The Big Ten became the first Power 5 conference to cancel its fall sports seasons Tuesday, announcing that there will be no football, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball played in the conference this fall.
Citing “too much uncertainty” with medical risks related to the coronavirus pandemic, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said Tuesday, “The overarching issues that we had to always keep at the top of our mind was the fact … that the health, the safety, the wellness and both physical and mental for our student athletes was going to be at the top of my list. When you look at this decision, we just believe collectively there’s too much uncertainty at this point in time in our country and to really encourage our student-athletes to participate in fall sports.”
The Pac-12 Conference followed with a similar decision and will postpone all fall sports through the 2020 calendar year after its athletics directors consulted with the conference’s COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee. The Pac-12 voted unanimously on the decision.
Both the Big Ten and Pac-12 plan to explore the possibility of playing their fall seasons in the spring.
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