COLUMBUS – After a week of backlash from players, their parents, fans and others, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said the vote by the conference’s presidents and chancellors to postpone fall sports, including football, will not be revisited.
The first-year commissioner, who has been criticized for a lack of transparency in how the decision to call off football this fall was made, attempted to elaborate on it by saying the vote by was overwhelmingly in support of postponement.
Warren wrote that transmission rates continue to rise at an alarming rate, there is too much unknown about the virus, recovery from infection and long-term effects and that there are concerns about contact tracing.
The statement came as a report, denied by Ohio State officials, said that OSU and some other Big Ten schools were trying to schedule their own fall season.
Buckeye coach Ryan Day says there are advantages for players to starting a season early next year.
“Starting, you know, the first week of January would be the best way to go. An eight-week season, and that way there is some separation between that season and the next season and it would allow some of the mid-year guys to come in and possibly play a two-for-one. You know, they get two seasons in one calendar year,” Day told ESPN.com.
OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith said there was no truth to a report that Ohio State and a handful of other Big Ten schools were attempting to independently play a fall season and issued a statement on behalf of himself and university President-elect Kristina Johnson in which he said that OSU officials are planning for sports, including football, to return in the winter and spring.
“This has been a very difficult time for Buckeye Nation, and we want you all to know that we hear your voices and we share your passion. We want to play the game. We will have our student-athletes back to competition as soon as possible,” the statement read in part.
“While a decision has been made by the presidents of the Big Ten Conference to postpone the fall season, we view this as a temporary delay, and Dr. Johnson has directed us to prepare for the possibility of bringing at least some of our fall sports back to practice and competition by the end of the year.” -statement from OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith and President-elect Kristina Johnson
Buckeye quarterback Justin Fields, whose online petition to reinstate the football schedule has gathered over 270,000 signatures, appeared on ABC’s Good Morning, America Wednesday, where he said the players want to play and feel safe doing so.
“Our safety protocol is that we get tested twice a week and, around the [practice] facility wears masks and stuff like that, so I think a lot of players feel more safe around the facility, rather than just being out in the community,” he said.
The university established a strict set of precautions when practice resumed last month requiring physical distancing, masks, hygiene and cleaning procedures.
In addition to the regular testing and mask requirement, players dress and undress at their apartments and bring used workout gear back to the practice facility at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for daily cleaning. They pick up clean workout clothes for the next day and receive food-to-go before leaving.
Workouts are limited to the weight room and the indoor and outdoor practice fields and players are not allowed to use locker rooms, showers or the players’ lounge.