According to a report by ESPN’s Heather Dinich, Adam Rittenberg and Mark Schlabach on Sunday, “several sources have indicated to ESPN that Big Ten presidents, following a meeting on Saturday, are ready to pull the plug on its fall sports season.”
“Sources told ESPN that a vast majority of Big Ten presidents have indicated that they would vote to postpone football season, hopefully to the spring,” the report states, though no official vote was taken during Saturday’s meeting of Big Ten presidents and chancellors, for which Ohio State president-elect Kristina Johnson was not present.
Per ESPN, commissioners of the Power 5 conferences held an “emergency meeting” on Sunday, in which the Big Ten “wanted to gauge if commissioners and university presidents and chancellors from the other Power 5 conferences – the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC – will fall in line with them.”
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel reported Sunday that Big Ten presidents and chancellors are scheduled to meet again on Sunday night.
Sources: Big Ten presidents and chancellors scheduled to speak tonight to discuss the future of the season. Sentiment from the call yesterday indicated there was momentum at the presidential level to cancel fall sports. Unclear when a decision will come.
Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde reported that efforts to save this fall’s college football season have reached a “critical stage.”
Sources: Attempts to salvage the fall 2020 college football season are all but over. Its gotten to a critical stage,” one told SI. “I think all of us will be meeting with our boards in the coming days. We have work to do that is no fun.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) August 9, 2020
So far, the Mid-American Conference is the only FBS conference that has officially postponed fall sports to the spring, but the Big Ten announced yesterday that it would not proceed forward with padded football practices until further notice.