Big Ten Votes to Reinstate Fall Sports, Football Season Begins October 24
After 36 days of delay, research, deliberation, angry fans, protests, social media movements, political pressure and medical advances, the Big Ten is finally back. The 14 members on the Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously to bring back fall sports.
“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 Dr. Jim Borchers, Head Team Physician, The Ohio State University and 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.”
The return will allow the league to play a conference title game and potentially qualify for the College Football Playoff. The schedule has not yet been released, but the football season will begin on the weekend of October 24.
The Big Ten first announced on August 11 that they were postponing all fall sports. At the time, they cited on-going concerns and a lack of knowing the long-term health risks from the CoVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the decision.
At the time of the postponement, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said, "The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward. As time progressed ... it became abundantly clear there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall."
So what changed over the last five weeks?
Significant medical advancements, significant fan blowback, football successfully being played elsewhere across the country and political pressure from many fronts were all contributing factors. But the most important piece of the decision was the daily rapid testing that became available for each school. Daily testing will begin September 30.
Perhaps the most important piece of the news is that the earliest a student-athlete can return to game competition is 21 days following a COVID-19 positive diagnosis.
Eventually all Big Ten sports will require testing protocols before they can resume competition. Updates regarding fall sports other than football, as well as winter sports that begin in the fall including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and wrestling, will be announced shortly.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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