Pac-12 scraps all sports through end of the year

The Pac-12 is postponing its 2020 fall football season and plans to play in the spring of 2021, according to Stadium Network’s Brett McMurphy.

“We’re done,” a source told McMurphy.

In a statement, the Pac-12 said if conditions related to the coronavirus improve, it would consider a return to competition after Jan. 1, 2021.

“The health, safety and well-being of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports has been our number one priority since the start of this current crisis,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott in a statement. “Our student-athletes, fans, staff and all those who love college sports would like to have seen the season played this calendar year as originally planned, and we know how disappointing this is.”

In addition to the Pac-12 and Big Ten, many other athletic conferences across all three divisions of the NCAA have cancelled or suspended athletic competition for the fall.

Scott said in a news conference Tuesday that many factors went into the decision, including the fact that creating a “bubble” like some pro sports have done was impossible for them.

“(Our student athletes) are part of broader campus communities,” Scott said. “Student athletes are living with peer students on campus, interacting, and enough questions and concerns have been raised that we didn’t feel comfortable moving forward.”

Last month, in the wake of the same decision from the Big Ten, the Pac-12 announced it would proceed with a conference-only football schedule to begin Sept. 26. The Pac-12’s decision to cancel the fall schedule Tuesday again follows the same decision from the Big Ten, which announced that it would cancel fall sports about an hour into the Pac-12’s CEO group meeting.

The Mid-American conference announced on August 8 that it will not be playing football this fall, making it the first Division I conference to make such a move. Locally, the Northeast-10 conference announced on July 16 that it will be suspending all competition through December 31. The Atlantic-10 conference announced on July 17 that it is suspending its fall season to the spring of 2021.

Shawn Stewart is the Founder/CEO of Sports 4 America , you can find him on Twitter @Sports4Stewart