First it was independent Connecticut opting out of a fall season, then all of the Mid-American Conference, the MAC, following suit. Now it seems as if the Power Five conferences could be next. In a report last night from CBS Sports detailing unknown Athletic Directors believing the football season won’t be played in the fall, but rather in the spring.
The report had one AD saying, “I think it’s inevitable (the season will not be played in the fall)” while another says “it’s not fair what we’re doing to our coaches and student-athletes.” When looking at the landscape of college football, a spring season just seems like it is not plausible. The Big Ten was scheduled to begin padded practices this weekend, but that was put on a hold. Their first-year commissioner Kevin Warren seems to prefer a spring season, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. Oklahoma started practices but now pushed them back, partly due to a change in scheduling, but also to monitor what has been happening around the country with cancellations. Players in the Pac-12 and Big Ten have rallied together to demand more adequate testing procedure, scholarship protection and more with so much uncertainty surrounding the season.
Those two conferences are the ones that the unnamed AD believe’s will be next to move football to the spring, “The Pac-12 will be next and then the Big Ten. The Big Ten just going to no contact, what’s that going to do for you? With California being so prominent (with the coronavirus), I see the Pac-12 getting out there next.”
It’s time to prepare ourselves for a spring football season. This isn’t what any of us want to see, but it seems like it’s an inevitability at this point. The fall surely will be different if football is not played, but the safety of the players and coaches should be at the forefront of this decision.