Big Ten Conference to cancel football season

The Big Ten Conference is expected to cancel its 2020 fall football season due to concerns about COVID-19.

Multiple sources around the sports world reported the news Monday saying a vote had been held; however, no official word has yet been announced.

A couple of weeks ago, the Big Ten Conference went to a 10-game, conference-only schedule, which was apparently the first phase of the conference canceling games.

Numerous other conferences have already canceled their seasons. The Big Ten presidents met Saturday and announced schools should proceed practicing in full pads.

“Each new phase of activity provides new intelligence and experience and allows us to evaluate the implementation of our Conference and institutional medical protocols in real-time,” the league said in an Aug. 5 statement. “In order to make the right health and safety decisions for our student-athletes, we believe it is best to continue in the appropriate phase of activity referenced above while we digest and share information from each campus to ensure we are moving forward cautiously.

“We understand there are many questions regarding how this impacts schedules, as well as the feasibility of proceeding forward with the season at all. As we have consistently stated, we will continue to evaluate daily, while relying on our medical experts, to make the best decisions possible for the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes.”

The Big Ten Conference includes Division I sports power houses from Pennsylvania to Nebraska. As of right now, the universities of Nebraska and Iowa are the only two conference schools committed to playing this fall.