Dan Patrick: “Here’s the information I got almost an hour ago. The Big Ten and Pac-12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow. The Big 12 and ACC are on the fence, and the SEC is trying to get a delay to have teams join them. The SEC is looking at exclusive TV contracts. Then I followed up with my source and I said ‘so the Big Ten and Pac-12 are cancelled tomorrow?’ – (reading the text on his phone) ‘that’s what I’m told this morning. Three Big Ten teams that I’ve spoken with said it’s done.’ So I followed it up with ‘So the SEC might go it alone and bring in other schools?’ – (reading the text on his phone) ‘that’s the latest. They’re trying to buy time to see if the ACC or Big 12 will go along with them’… That’s the information that I got this morning. I met with my source over the weekend, and the commissioners met last night (Sunday 8/9) and as of 7 o’clock the Big Ten may pull the plug tomorrow morning (Tuesday, 8/11). I even had my source telling me that Big Ten presidents voted 12-2 NOT to play. The Pac-12 doesn’t want to be the first to cancel.”
Listen to Dan Patrick break news of a potential vote that went down late Sunday night between all the presidents of the 14 Big Ten schools that allegedly ended with a 12-2 result in favor of CANCELLING the season.
The coronavirus pandemic has plagued the entire sports world the last five months, but professional sports have attempted bold comebacks to competition as the NBA, MLB, NHL, and PGA have all returned to action without fans present.
College sports are dealing with many more roadblocks than the professional leagues are, as schools weigh the pros and cons of a cancelled 2020 season that could have catastrophic consequences to college sports as a whole, but one that could face uphill battles when it comes to the legalities of schools playing amateur athletes on scholarship, and the liabilities they would take on by potentially putting their lives into danger.
Despite the risks, college football players have come forward this week proclaiming their desire to take the field next month, including superstar Clemson Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who went viral on Twitter for tweeting his support for the season going on.
Nebraska head coach Scott Frost even said on Monday afternoon that he thought his players were safer on campus, and that the team was looking for potential ways to play temporarily play in another conference. Nebraska was one of the two Big Ten schools alongside Iowa who voted to put on the 2020 Big Ten season.
According to Patrick’s source, the SEC is delaying their decision whether or not to cancel its season for this very reason, and could potentially look to acquire teams from conferences packing up who want to compete in one giant superleague.
Check out the full segment above.