The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday that its presidents have canceled the 2020 football season with the hopes that an attempt could be made to play in the spring.
Despite pushback from coaches such as Penn State's James Franklin and players, the presidents opted against delaying their decision or considering beginning the 2020 season later in September.
Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel broke the story. He had said in an earlier tweet that conference presidents talked about a hypothetical situation where football would be moved to the spring, but termed the discussion "contentious" because larger programs wanted to play in the fall.
"The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward," Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement. "As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall."
Franklin, appearing on ESPN's Get Up, earlier Tuesday, said he felt a decision on football's fate in the fall should be delayed because more information needed to be made on what impact the cancellation would mean.
During his appearance, Franklin said he would look at other options for his players to participate in football in the fall in the event of a cancellation, and that alternate solutions to playing, such as competing in Midwestern indoor stadiums, should be examined for the winter or spring.
He appeared ready to follow the suggestion made Monday by Nebraska coach Scott Frost, that his program could seek out its own schedule for 2020 without the Big Ten.
"If we can push things back, continue to gather information, and our trainers and doctors and all the medical personnel feel like this is something we could do and should do, then I think I have a responsibility based on the feedback I've gotten from my players and my parents to explore any opportunity possible for our players to be able to continue to reach their dreams," Franklin said.
He said that medical professionals would have to tell him that it's safe but that his responsibility to players and parents was "to exhaust every opportunity and option that's out there."
Franklin's interview followed a whirlwind day Monday filled with separate meetings of conference presidents and athletic directors.
Franklin said that he conducted meetings Monday night with his players and their parents and that they had many questions that needed answers with regard to scholarships and eligibility for fifth-year seniors, as well as freshmen. He said there was also a matter of having different scholarship numbers at Big Ten schools considering how many incoming freshmen are in the 2021 class.
"I'm speaking to represent them, what our parents think, what our players think," he said. "Most importantly, we want to keep our players safe and healthy, but we also want to give them the best opportunity to continue to play the game they love. So why not press pause and find out more information?
"There's just so many questions that I don't think from a leadership standpoint that you cancel the season and then people ask you, 'Well Coach, what does this mean for my future?' We don't have any of those answers right now."
Franklin said plans should be put in place to incorporate other models for a season. He recommended games be played in Midwestern domed stadiums such as Ford Field in Detroit, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
"Even if we push the season back ... we could use the domes in Detroit, in Minnesota and Indianapolis and do Big Ten weekends at those venues from a weather perspective," he said. "We've got a bunch of really intelligent people. We've got a bunch of creative people. Let's spend the next month coming up with solutions rather than calling it quits."
The Big Ten released a 10-game conference-only schedule last week that listed starting dates of Sept. 3, 4 and 5 but allowed for the season to begin as late as Sept. 26.
Penn State's next report on COVID-19 testing of its student-athletes was scheduled to be released Wednesday. In the athletic department's latest statistics, released July 29, it reported eight positive tests among 466 administered, with the results of 66 tests pending.
On Monday, Big Ten presidents were said to have voted 12-2 against having a fall season, based on reporting from syndicated radio host Dan Patrick and the Detroit Free Press. But a conference spokesman denied that a vote had been taken.
Reports of the vote spurred Big Ten coaches Franklin, Frost, Jim Harbaugh of Michigan, and Ryan Day of Ohio State to speak out in support of conducting the season.
Players also got into the act, tweeting out their desire to go through with the schedule accompanied by the hashtag #WeWantToPlay.
