Big Ten Reverses Course – Inside Higher Ed
The Big Ten, a big-time college football conference, reversed its decision to postpone fall sports and will resume football on Oct. 23, citing changed medical evidence and improved testing protocols.
For several weeks, it appeared that the Big Ten Conference would weather waves of criticism from athletes, parents, football coaches, state governors and federal officials and stick with its original decision to postpone fall sports because of the pandemic and consider spring competition instead.
But the league announced Wednesday that it would instead begin football competition in October, a reversal that college crisis analysts and athletic experts found surprising and potentially damaging to the conference and its institutions’ reputations.
It was previously “abundantly clear” to the conference’s leaders that the medical risks to athletes — coronavirus infection and a possible heart condition among football players stemming from it — were too uncertain to proceed, Commissioner Kevin Warren said in the original announcement postponing the fall season on Aug. 11. After immediate criticism of the decision, Warren reiterated in an open letter the following week that the postponement was “overwhelmingly” supported by the Council of Presidents and Chancellors, or COP/C, which includes leaders from each of the conference’s 14 member institutions. He wrote that the decision “will not be revisited.”