Power 5 Conferences Are Moving Towards Canceling Fall Sports

Transcript

00:00The college football season is in serious jeopardy and for more on that

00:05I'm joined by our senior writer Pat Forty and Brendan Gulick of Buckeyes Now.

00:09Pat, let's start with you. Where are we and is cancellation or postponement imminent?

00:14It's relatively imminent. It certainly feels inevitable. You know, I

00:22think that as the week goes on, as I was told by a very good source on

00:26Saturday, by the end of this week there will be nobody playing college football

00:30in the fall. You know, it may not take till Friday, it may be Thursday, it may be

00:35Wednesday, but I think the dominoes are lining up. The MAAC obviously was the

00:39first one and in the succeeding days here, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe by

00:44the end of the day Wednesday, I think that probably everyone will opt out of

00:47fall football. Obviously, you know, that's conferences, coming together, the

00:52Power Five, but the players have come together as well, Brendan, including at

00:57Ohio State to say they want to play. They sure have. We had a chance to talk with

01:01all seven of the captains this past week when they were announced. And frankly,

01:05it's pretty clear. They want a football season. They feel safe on campus. They

01:09like the environment and the health protocols that have been put in place at

01:13Ohio State. Even last night, the Football Parents Association at Ohio State put

01:18out a letter essentially pleading for a football season, saying, look, we feel

01:22that our sons, you can't totally remove the risk. We think they've done it as

01:27much as they can to remove as much of the risk as they can and that they're

01:32willing to, as parents, allow them to play. So, boy, this is such an interesting

01:36time for college football because there are so many people with a voice and at

01:40the end of the day, it still might not be enough to have a season, but I do think

01:44that most of the Buckeyes want to be out there this fall. Pat, how much do you

01:48think what the players are saying right now will be taken into account, if at

01:52all? I mean, they'll be listened to, but I think most of these decisions have

01:56largely been made, certainly in the Big Ten. And I have heard from the Ohio

02:00State players and parents. I've heard from the Penn State players and parents.

02:04Uh, they want to play, yes, but they're not making the decision here.

02:07University presidents are. University presidents are listening to their health

02:10experts, and they're looking at virus numbers, and they are hearing stories

02:15about players with lingering heart issues who have had the COVID-19 virus.

02:20And I think that is the biggest thing there is you want to be responsible for

02:24potential health issues that we don't even know what all they could be going

02:28forward. So, you know, good for the players for organizing. Good for them

02:31for raising their voices. But just because they want to play doesn't mean

02:35they're gonna be able to play. Yeah, and I've always felt like there would be

02:38maybe a distinction between college and professional athletics when it comes to

02:43this. Pat, Brendan, appreciate your time as always. You bet. Thank you.