Reports: Power 5 conferences expected to postpone fall sports season |
| - Sunday, August 9, 2020, 7:20 PM |
Not even a full week after a number of Power 5 conferences unveiled their schedules, multiple reports have the season grinding to a halt this week.
Sports Illustrated reported Sunday evening per multiple sources that they expect the announcement of a postponement of fall sports until 2021. ESPN reported around the same time that the commissioners of the Power 5 conferences held an emergency meeting on Sunday due to "growing concern among college athletics officials that the upcoming football season and other fall sports can't be played because of the coronavirus pandemic." The Big Ten is reportedly going to be the first to announce and the rest could follow. The Mid-American Conference became the first in the FBS to postpone to the spring on Saturday. "Nobody wanted to be the first to do it," a Power 5 coach told ESPN, "and now nobody will want to be the last." Sports Illustrated had one source put a timeline on the events that could be ahead. "In the next 72 hours college football is going to come to a complete stop,” one industry source told SI. The ACC announced on Thursday that Clemson would start its season on Sept. 12 versus Wake Forest with week two being a non-conference game on Sept. 12. Two options for that game looked to be in doubt with Akron being from the Mid-American Conference and The Citadel having over 30 players not report for camp. On social media this weekend, Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence has been an active voice for players wanting to play this season: People are at just as much, if not more risk, if we don’t play. Players will all be sent home to their own communities where social distancing is highly unlikely and medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they were to contract covid19 (1) Players being safe and taking all of the right precautions to try to avoid contracting covid because the season/ teammates safety is on the line. Without the season, as we’ve seen already, people will not social distance or wear masks and take the proper precautions Let’s work together to create a situation where we can play the game that all of us love. Not divide and argue. There is a way forward ACC: Wednesday https://t.co/KUSJjSgJGR
— Trevor Lawrence (@Trevorlawrencee)
August 9, 2020
