The Big Ten is expected to cancel its fall college football season, all because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, multiple people with knowledge of the decision told the Detroit Free Press yesterday.
"It's done," one high-ranking source in the Big Ten said Monday afternoon. Sources said the presidents were in favor Sunday of not playing sports in the conference this fall. Multiple sources said early Monday morning that presidents voted 12-2 to not play this fall, though the Big Ten said Monday afternoon no official vote had taken place. Dan Patrick, who first reported the 12-2 vote, said on his radio show that Iowa and Nebraska were the two schools in favor or playing.
The situation is fluid as the Big Ten wanted to coordinate any announcement with other Power Five conferences. Since then, coaches and players in the conference, including OSU head coach Ryan Day and QB Justin Fields, have lobbied for the season to commence this fall. "Swinging as hard as we possibly can right now for these players!! This isn't over!," Day tweeted.
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit tweeted: "To be clear regarding (Big Ten football) and their impending announcement - they are looking TO DELAY the start of the season NOT TO CANCEL." "As we know this is a very fluid and ongoing situation," Herbstreit said in a follow-up tweet. "Things are said one minute and changed the next. So we’ll see what happens in the next 24-48 hours. Numerous options in play. We can all hope there will be CFB at some point."