Big Ten Football: No Fans Allowed, Schedule Update

Big Ten football is back, thanks in large part to significant changes in the medical world. The biggest reason for the return of football season is the availability of rapid antigen tests that can significantly decrease the need for contact tracing.

The Buckeyes are thankful to be back, but they recognize this season will be strange on game days. It's extremely likely that stadiums will be nearly empty, with no general tickets available for fans. The conference announced today that it is working on a way to allow family members of players to attend games, both home and away.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith supports the Big Ten's decision to play without fans this fall.

“Let's mitigate the risk," Smith said. "Let's make sure we get the games played in a safe way.”

“Everyone associated with the Big Ten should be very proud of the groundbreaking steps that are now being taken to better protect the health and safety of the student-athletes and surrounding communities,” said Ohio State team physician Jim Borchers, co-chair of the Return to Competition Task Force medical subcommittee. “The data we are going to collect from testing and the cardiac registry will provide major contributions for all 14 Big Ten institutions as they study COVID-19 and attempt to mitigate the spread of the disease among wider communities.”

Earlier this summer, Ohio State had hoped to hold games with reduced capacity, perhaps as many as 20,000 fans safely socially distanced. In July, Ohio State informed season-ticket holders that there would be no more than 20% capacity allowed at the stadium.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten has not yet released it's schedule. Commissioner Kevin Warren told Big Ten Network this afternoon that announcement would come out later this week, but the format of the schedule is particularly interesting.

Each team will play eight games to align themselves in their divisions. The conference championship game will be held the weekend of December 19. But all 14 schools will be allowed to play a ninth game; on the same day of the conference title game, the second place teams in each division will play each other, as will the third place teams, fourth place teams, so on and so forth.

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for continued coverage!