Big 12 Moving Forward With Fall Football
The Big 12 Board of Directors agreed Tuesday night to proceed with fall sports seasons.
The league's board of directors agreed Tuesday night to proceed with fall sports seasons.
“The Board continues to believe that the health and well-being of our student-athletes must guide all decisions” commented Board of Directors Chairman and TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini. “To that end the Board has consistently relied on the advice and counsel of top medical experts to determine the viability of available options. Our student-athletes want to compete, and it is the Board’s collective opinion that sports can be conducted safely and in concert with the best interests of their well-being. We remain vigilant in monitoring the trends and effects of COVID 19 as we learn more about the virus. If at any point our scientists and doctors conclude that our institutions cannot provide a safe and appropriate environment for our participants, we will change course.”
The news came after two Power 5 conferences - both the Pac-12 and Big Ten - decided to postpone fall sports out of the 2020 calendar year due to concerns over the novel coronavirus.
“The virus continues to evolve and medical professionals are learning more with each passing week,” said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “Opinions vary regarding the best path forward, as we’ve seen throughout higher education and our society overall, but we are comfortable in our institutions’ ability to provide a structured training environment, rigorous testing and surveillance, hospital quality sanitation and mitigation practices that optimize the health and safety of our student-athletes. We believe all of this combines to create an ideal learning and training situation during this time of COVID-19. Ultimately, our student-athletes have indicated their desire to compete in the sports they love this season and it is up to all of us to deliver a safe, medically sound, and structured academic and athletic environment for accomplishing that outcome.”
Shortly after this announcement, the conference also released revised schedules for all ten member teams.
