Just one month after the Big Ten Conference announced a shift to a conference-only fall sports schedule — and one week after it released its new football schedule — the league became the first Power 5 conference to postpone its fall sports season. The Pac-12 soon followed, postponing all sports competitions for the rest of the year.
The two league’s decisions continue what has been the domino effect of scrapping college sports because of the coronavirus pandemic, and it could continue with the remaining Power 5 conferences. Maryland and the Big Ten said that the decision was made for the safety of its student-athletes, but in pushing fall sports back to the spring, an increasing list of concerns will have to be addressed.