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The Doomsday Clock for a fall college football season moved a minute closer to midnight on Sunday evening, as ESPN reported that the “vast majority” of Big Ten university presidents are ready to push college football to the spring. A conference call between the Big Ten leaders was held on Sunday, but no official vote was taken, per ESPN.
According to their sources, commissioners of the Power 5 conferences held an emergency meeting on Sunday to gauge whether the university presidents and chancellors from the other conferences — the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC — would follow the Big Ten’s lead.
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel is reporting that the Big Ten chancellors and presidents are scheduled to meet again Sunday night to further discuss the future of the season.
This comes on the heels of the Mid-American Conference’s decision on Saturday to cancel their fall season with the hope of being able to stage a season in the spring, becoming the first FBS conference to pull the plug on playing football in the fall.
To be clear, no official decision has been made, but we will keep you posted as more information is made available. And there is certainly more to come.
Update: 8/10 @ 8:45 a.m.
Dan Patrick is reporting that the Big Ten university presidents voted 12-2 on Sunday night to cancel fall sports, with Iowa and Nebraska representing the only holdouts.
DP was told an hour ago that the Big 10 and Pac 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow... The ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence.. And the SEC is trying to get teams to join them for a season.
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 10, 2020
Watch live: https://t.co/sMaeXQkLfl pic.twitter.com/oSUNGMTEqw
According to Dan's source, 12 of the 14 Presidents from the Big 10 have voted against having a Fall College Football season. Iowa and Nebraska were the two that have been pushing to play.
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 10, 2020
Update: 8/10 @ 11 a.m.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Big Ten has voted to cancel the 2020 fall college football season, with a formal announcement expected by Tuesday.
Update: 8/10 @ 12:30 p.m.
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel reports that a Big Ten spokesman is disputing that Big Ten presidents and chancellors have voted to cancel the fall season:
Just got a text from a Big Ten spokesman. "No vote has been held by our presidents and chancellors." Hence, the Big Ten watch continues.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 10, 2020
Rivals’ Nebraska publisher Sean Callahan is also reporting that he spoke to a Big Ten athletic director this morning and was informed that the much-publicized 12-2 vote was conducted among each university’s medical officials, not the presidents.
As for the 12-2...I was told that had to due with a medical call with the Big Ten office and each school. Only Nebraska and Iowa's medical officials said they were currently comfortable with everything at this time.
— Sean Callahan (@Sean_Callahan) August 10, 2020
Update: 8/10 @ 12:45 p.m.
Lansing State Journal sports writer Graham Couch is reporting that the Big Ten’s presidents are scheduled to meet on a call at a 5 p.m. CDT to make a final decision.
The Big Ten's presidents are scheduled to meet again on a call at 6 o'clock ET tonight, when they'll make the final decision on the football season, per source.
— Graham Couch (@Graham_Couch) August 10, 2020
Update: 8/10 @ 4:40 p.m.
Not the presidents, but the athletic directors, I guess. I can’t keep up.
I'm told Big Ten athletic directors are scheduled to meet tonight, not presidents.
— billlandis25 (@BillLandis25) August 10, 2020