On the heels of the Ivy League implementing a moratorium on all athletics until January in response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases across the United States, the Big Ten has announced that they will eliminate non-conference matchups for all fall 2020 sports season and limit their member teams to conference-only schedule.s
Why cancel the non-conference matchups? Likely to reduce the need for air travel as teams often have to fly to face non-conference opponents based outside their region, which would increase their chances of being exposed to COVID-19. In theory, games against other Big Ten opponents should allow teams to only have to travel by bus, which would seem to present less risk.