Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren explains decision to postpone fall sports in open letter
After criticism from coaches, players and players’ parents, Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren released an open letter Wednesday evening to offer more details on the conference’s decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season.
Warren ended any hope some had of the conference changing its mind and playing football this fall. He also confirmed that there was a formal vote taken on the proposal, just two days after Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said it was “unclear” to her whether there was a vote.
“The vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) was overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited,” the letter read.
The letter also addressed the abrupt change of course the conference took when it announced the postponement of the fall college football season only six days after releasing a conference-only schedule on Aug. 5.
“We understand the disappointment and questions surrounding the timing of our decision to postpone fall sports, especially in light of releasing a football schedule only six days prior to that decision,” Warren wrote. “From the beginning, we consistently communicated our commitment to cautiously proceed one day at a time with the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes at the center of our decision-making process. That is why we took simultaneous paths in releasing the football schedule, while also diligently monitoring the spread of the virus, testing, and medical concerns as student-athletes were transitioning to full-contact practice.”
Warren’s letter lists three “primary factors” in the Big Ten’s decision — which was “based on sound feedback, guidance and advice from medical experts”:
“Transmission rates continue to rise at an alarming rate with little indication from medical experts that our campuses, communities or country could gain control of the spread of the virus prior to the start of competition. As our teams were ramping up for more intense practices, many of our medical staffs did not think the interventions we had planned would be adequate to decrease the potential spread even with very regular testing. As the general student body comes back to campus, spread to student-athletes could reintroduce infection into our athletics community.
“There is simply too much we do not know about the virus, recovery from infection, and longer-term effects. While the data on cardiomyopathy is preliminary and incomplete, the uncertain risk was unacceptable at this time.
“Concerns surrounding contact tracing still exist, including the inability to social distance in contact sports pursuant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. While risk mitigation processes (e.g., physical distancing, face coverings, proper hygiene, etc.) can be implemented across campus for the student body population, it became clear those processes could not be fully implemented in contact-sports. With the start of full-contact practices and competitions, it became increasingly clear that contact tracing and quarantining would risk frequent and significant disruptions to the practice and competition calendar. Accurate and widely available rapid testing may help mitigate those concerns, but access to accurate tests is currently limited. Significant concerns also exist regarding the testing supply chain, generally, for many of our institutions.”
The letter states that the Big Ten has assembled a Return to Competition Task Force, which consists of members of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, sports medicine and university medical personnel, athletic directors, head coaches, faculty athletic representatives and senior women administrators to plan for the return of fall sports competition.
“In evaluating winter/spring models, we will explore many factors including the number of football games that can reasonably be played from a health perspective in a full calendar year while maintaining a premier competitive experience for our student-athletes culminating in a Big Ten Championship,” the letter read. “The Big Ten Conference will continue to collect feedback from student-athletes, families, and other constituents and remains in active discussions with its television partners regarding all future plans.”
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 7:58 PM.
