It has been less than 24 hours since the Big Ten Conference finally announced that they would cancel their 2020 football season. The hope being that they can resume football in the spring. An idea that has seemingly been kicked around for weeks. While the Big Ten was joined by the Pac-12 in cancelling, the remaining three Power Five conferences are moving forward.
The Big Ten Conference and commissioner Kevin Warren released a statement on their decision. One in which they cited player safety and medical advice as the reasoning. There is a lot of unknown as to the long-term effects of COVID-19 so they decided to err on the side of caution. Then there was Wisconsin Badgers athletic director Barry Alvarez.
Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez said teams will get to stay on a 20-hour week in the fall with workouts and drill work. #BigTen
— Sean Callahan (@Sean_Callahan) August 11, 2020
Alvarez who was the head coach at Wisconsin from 1990-2005 stated that the team will stay on 20-hour weeks during an interview with the Big Ten Network. Which at first thought sounds like a great plan. Then as you begin to let that sink in, it makes zero sense.
Essentially, the Big Ten has stated that they are looking out for the mental and physical wellbeing of their student athletes. They want to remove any unnecessary risks to prevent contraction of COVID-19 to their athletes. Noble cause.
However, you are expecting the students to go class every day. You are expecting them to be round their teammates. Continue to practice for 20 hours each week, drills and everything that comes with it. Then you say that is is unsafe for the players to play in the games.