Big 12 Postponing 2020 Media Day Could Solve a Handful of Logistical Challenges

The Big 12 Conference rescheduled its 2020 Virtual Football Media Days on Wednesday, pushing the two-day event back from next Monday and Tuesday to Monday, Aug. 3, according to a league press release.

“As everyone is aware, our head coaches and student-athletes have not been able to collectively engage in organized team functions since athletics activities were suspended in March,” said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “We felt it was prudent to give coaches a chance to re-acclimate with their teams prior to participating in our annual season preview event.”

All Big 12 teams have reconvened for voluntary offseason workouts per the league’s mandated return date of June 15, but a few, like Kansas and Kansas State, have had to suspend student-athlete activities as Coronavirus cases have once more spiked nationwide.

Oklahoma returned on July 1 and immediately had 14 football players test positive, but a week later recorded zero positive tests.

It’s also reasonable to think that the league probably needed more time to work through various logistical challenges with both the COVID-19 shutdown and rolling out an entirely untested format.

After restructuring its usual in-person interviews for virtual attendance through TBG Conferencing, the Big 12 was likely expecting online attendance in excess of 400 people.

Schools set to interview on Monday were Kansas, TCU, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma, while Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas were scheduled for Tuesday. Media representatives in print, digital, radio and television formats from six states, plus numerous national media, were expected to dial in.

The league had scheduled all 10 head coaches and two players from each team to participate, but as of Wednesday still had not identified which players are expected to attend. It’s key for writers and broadcasters to know ahead of time which players are coming so they can research background information, prepare questions and plan story angles. Most years the league announces player attendees several weeks in advance; last year media got one week’s notice.

Also, 2020 is the Big 12’s first year with a title sponsor for its media days. In March, the league signed a multiyear contract with Academy Sports + Outdoors to be the event’s presenter.

On March 26, Bowlsby conducted a conference call with media and said at the time although mid-July was a long time off, the new sponsorship made it imperative that the league not cancel its 2020 media day.

“We have a new sponsor coming on for that event in Academy Sports and Outdoors, so obviously we want to hold it,” Bowlsby said. “It's in the middle of July and we don’t know what the circumstances will be then. It’s still on the calendar but it’s another event that we will have to think about and make the best decision we can with the circumstances.”

The conference will announce its preseason All-Big 12 team (as voted on by media) on Thursday at 2 p.m., and the preseason media poll will be revealed on Friday at 2 p.m.

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