The Big Ten could be the first Power 5 conference to cancel their football season in the wake of the pandemic as the conference is reportedly considering “pulling the plug” on fall sports season.
According to the ESPN report, the commissioners of the Power 5 conferences (Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC) met on Sunday night to determine the fate of the upcoming season. The Big Ten was the first to consider canceling fall sports and consulted the other Power 5 conferences if they were doing the same.
The report also mentions that the cancellation of the upcoming season seems “inevitable” within the next 48 hours.
A cancelation would be crushing for the Gopher football team, who ranked 18th in the preseason coaches poll from USA Today but also saw star wide receiver Rashod Bateman opt-out of the upcoming season in order to prepare for the 2020 NFL Draft.
Other players considered to be top draft prospects have made the same decision and D-II and D-III have already canceled their fall seasons along with the Missouri Valley Conference, which is home to FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
Earlier this week, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) was the first FBS conference to cancel fall sports and it appears their larger counterparts are ready to follow suit.
As of now, there is no clear alternative if the college football season is canceled, but there is the possibility of playing in the spring if the COVID-19 pandemic has calmed down. For the time being, it appears that the 2020 college football season will not be played in the fall.
