Big Ten To Have Only Conference Games
Today the Big Ten, one of the preeminent NCAA conferences, announced that all fall sports would play their conference schedules.
Big Ten Statement on 2020-21 Fall Season:https://t.co/KLjc4mA47h
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) July 9, 2020
This announcement, then, includes some of the best/most popular football programs in the country.
This year we will not get the early season match up of blockbuster programs we have come accustomed to.
We also won’t get the once in a lifetime upsets we love.
The 2020 season is indelibly changed, and maybe even lost.
This Doesn’t Bode Well
This is a foreboding decision by the Big Ten. Many other conferences will at least follow suit, along with some that had already matched the announcement.
In fact, there has already been a conference who has taken the next step.
Sources: Ivy League programs have been informed that fall sports have been cancelled.
The conference will not entertain any sports being played until after January 1st.
Winter sports will have an update in mid-July on their respective practice schedules.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 8, 2020
Another prominent conference has just delayed their schedule.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today that each of its fall Olympic Sports will delay the start of competition until at least September 1. https://t.co/t178ebE3RE
— The ACC (@theACC) July 9, 2020
With these early delays, truncated schedules, and outright cancellations from smaller institutions, this is a bad sign for college sports fans everywhere.
Winter Sports in Jeopardy?
For now, it appears our winter sports are safe.
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— Notre Dame MBB (@NDmbb) June 24, 2020
But with the outright cancellation of fall sports sitting less than 6 feet from reality, winter sports is also in jeopardy.
Adjustments to the new COVID reality have already been made for basketball squads.
The Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees on Monday finalized recommendations for summer athletic activities for July and August.#ncaaW https://t.co/zx2uraRMkM
— NCAA Women’s Basketball (@ncaawbb) June 16, 2020
If a “second wave” or continued first wave persists into the late autumn, we can expect to maybe lose college athletics for the rest of the year and beyond.
Keep the Players Safe
While, of course, these are all the correct decisions, it is still a bummer for both fans and players.
Many players have seen their careers end early and unfulfilled. Many teams have not been able to reach the heights they should have.
There is huge money involved, specifically in football and women’s/men’s basketball, so there is no way the NCAA, Conferences, and Schools would make decisions like this unless they had to.
The fact that so many decisions are coming so early, as the virus continues to peak ever higher, means we could be in for a boring next few months.
What’s scary is that it’s starting to look like it may be even longer.
-Brent Buckley (@bigbucksbuckley on twitter)