Where will the games be played?
If the season is going to begin mid-to-late winter, or even earlier in the spring, the schizophrenic weather in the midwest will need to be accounted for. You deal with a little bit of that at the tail-end of the traditional fall calendar where sweet tea and grits aren’t served ad-nauseum, but it’ll be a bigger factor in a so-called spring scenario.
If there are going to be some semblance of fans allowed in the stands, you can cross this off the list because programs will thirst and yearn for ticket and concession revenue to help soften the blow. If not though, it doesn’t really matter where the games are going to be played. You could play them on the moon as long as the weather cooperated (talk about breaking field goal records).
James Franklin on ESPN's Get Up w/ an interesting suggestion if the football season is pushed to the spring:
"In the Big Ten, the weather is a bit of an issue. We could use the domes in Detroit, in Minnesota and Indianapolis and do Big Ten weekends at those venues."
— John McGonigal (@jmcgonigal9) August 11, 2020
So, to not let the weather level the playing field more than it should, indoor venues could be in the mix. In the Big Ten footprint currently, there are enclosed stadiums in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Indianapolis. Perhaps Miller Park in Milwaukee could be configured for football as well. That’s only four venues so creative scheduling would need to occur unless we’re using home venues no matter what.