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Big Ten disputes reports they will cancel their 2020 football season, says no vote held yet

Author: CBS Dallas-Fort Worth and CNN Writer: Drew Hill
Published: Updated:
FOOTBALL
How money is changing the landscape of conferences in college football. (CREDIT: MGN)

Sportscaster Dan Patrick said Monday morning during his radio show that his sources have confirmed the Big Ten and Pac-12 will cancel their football seasons on Tuesday.

However, Big Ten leaders say they have not yet come to that decision. Responding to multiple reports, a Big Ten spokesman said the league has yet to formally vote on the matter.

“No vote has been held by our presidents and chancellors,” the spokesman said.

Patrick also said he learned the Big 12 and ACC are “on the fence,” and the SEC is trying to get the other teams to join them for a season this fall.

The news comes just after leaders from the Power Five met over the weekend to discuss postponing the football season and other fall sports.

When asked about the upcoming college football season, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told CBS Sports on Sunday night, “It’s an ongoing conversation we’ve been having for weeks. We talk almost every day. I’m not aware decisions have been made.”

Though Patrick reported on his show that the Big Ten held a vote with league presidents opting by a 12-2 margin to not play this fall (Nebraska and Iowa were reportedly the dissenters), a formal vote has not been substantiated at this time.

The Big 10 and PAC 12 both are expected to cancel their conference’s college football seasons this week. Many sports fans and players themselves in the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are hoping that they get to continue playing.

“I’m a sports fanatic I love watching it so if they could figure out a way to do it that’d be great,” said Rondell Newson, Cape Coral Street basketball coach and obvious sports fan.

Newson, like many sports fanatics across the country, loves college football. He hopes he gets to sit in front of his tv on Saturdays this fall to enjoy football like he’s always done.

But, if trusted sportscaster Dan Patrick is correct, Newson my not get to cheer on his favorite teams this year. Patrick is rarely wrong but former NFL fullback Tommy Bohanon hopes this time he is. “I wish they would take a step out of the NFL’s playbook right now where they are going to play this year but they’re doing it in a safe manner,” Bohanon said.

Bohanon truly believes he was successful in the NFL because of the skills he gained on and off the field in college, which for him was at Wake Forest. So he loathes the idea that many college athletes won’t have the opportunity to get better like he did.

Fort Myers High School football player Hunter Waldron is also afraid of what could become of his career if college football starts canceling their seasons.

“I think it’s really bad because there’s a lot of athletes that have been grinding during quarantine and a lot of high schoolers that have been grinding every day and they need their opportunity to shine,” Waldron said.

Bohanon definitely agrees that all the hard work these athletes put in should not go unrecognized. “So I do think that there should be a season and these kids should get to play,” he said.

The Power Five conferences consist of the Big 12 Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten Conference, the Pac-12 Conference, and the Southeastern Conference.

On Saturday, the Mid-American Conference announced that it was postponing its fall sports schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. The MAC is the first conference from NCAA’s top tier Division I Football Bowl Subdivision to postpone its football season.

Aside from football, the other fall collegiate sports include men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, and women’s volleyball.

A growing number of college athletes, including Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, have started a social media movement with the hashtag below, #WeWantToPlay. High profile athletes are urging their schools to start a dialogue with them about plans for their upcoming seasons, as to establish trust between players and school officials.

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