Big Ten halts fall sports including football, with hope to play in spring

University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank is scheduled to join our WTMJ Cares Special Roundtable: Back to School during the 4 p.m. hour.

Numerous reports say that the Big Ten Conference is halting football and all fall sports for the 2020 fall semester, while hoping to instead play the sports in the spring, all in a move to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.

“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,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren 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.

Besides football, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball are being postponed.

“For many months, we had hoped that the return of fall collegiate sports might be an opportunity to restore some sense of normalcy and provide brighter moments for our university, our city and our state. Even so, today’s decision by the Big Ten to postpone the fall 2020 sports season is the correct one,” said UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez in a joint statement.

“It was made with the input of medical professionals and with the best interests of student-athletes, fans and staff at its core. Athletic Department staff have worked incredibly hard to create as safe an environment as possible for our teams to practice and prepare for the season, but there is simply too much unknown risk for us to proceed with the confidence we need to launch our sports seasons. At the end of the day, the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff is our top priority. Nothing is more important.”

The Pac-12 Conference, the Big Ten’s partner with the Rose Bowl Game, has decided to make the same move of postponing football until the spring.

Last week, the University of Wisconsin released a football schedule, but had planned to not have fans in the stands at Camp Randall Stadium.

Check back for more details on this breaking story as they come in to us.