There will be meetings this week nationwide among conference bosses that are expected to lead to the postponement of the college football season and all fall sports, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.
The MAC said Saturday it would not play in the fall due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the next 72 hours college football is going to come to a complete stop,” one industry source told SI.
Breaking news story with @RossDellenger: Nationwide conference meetings this week are expected to result in the postponement of the 2020 college football season and all fall sports.
"We've got work to do that's no fun." https://t.co/4uo3BufqSh
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) August 9, 2020
Per the SI report:
High-level conference meetings are being planned for this week across the college football landscape with the expected resolution of postponing fall sports until 2021, multiple sources have told Sports Illustrated.
“It’s gotten to a critical stage,” one conference commissioner told Sports Illustrated Sunday, after a conference call between the heads of the Power 5 conferences. “I think all of us will be meeting with our boards in the coming days. We have work to do that is no fun.”
ESPN added to the news the season was in jeopardy:
Commissioners of the Power 5 conferences held an emergency meeting on Sunday, as there is growing concern among college athletics officials that the upcoming football season and other fall sports can’t be played because of the coronavirus pandemic, sources told ESPN.
Several sources have indicated to ESPN that Big Ten presidents, following a meeting on Saturday, are ready to pull the plug on its fall sports season, and they wanted to gauge if commissioners and university presidents and chancellors from the other Power 5 conferences — the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — will fall in line with them.
“Nobody wanted to be the first to do it,” a Power 5 coach told ESPN, “and now nobody will want to be the last.”
Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley allowed Sooner players to go home after making a statement Saturday he was pausing practice.
Earlier that day, the Big Ten ratcheted back from full-padded practices to helmets only,
Yahoo Sports reports Big Ten presidents and chancellors will speak Sunday to discuss fall sports.
Sources: Big Ten presidents and chancellors scheduled to speak tonight to discuss the future of the season. Sentiment from the call yesterday indicated there was momentum at the presidential level to cancel fall sports. Unclear when a decision will come.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 9, 2020
Of course, one must remember the difference between “canceling” and “postponing.” Canceling would be finite meaning no football season, while a postponement would mean a delay until the spring, in all likelihood.