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COVID-19 Pandemic Prompts Two Major US College Athletic Conferences to
Postpone 2020 Football Seasons

VOA News

   The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to have an effect on the
   sporting world, as two major U.S. college athletic conferences
   announced Tuesday they are postponing their upcoming fall (gridiron)
   football seasons.

   Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said after consulting with the
   conference's medical advisory board"it became abundantly clear that
   there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to
   allow our student-athletes to compete this fall."

   Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said the presidents and chancellors of
   all of the member schools agreed their individual programs "are a part
   of broader campuses in communities where in many cases the prevalence
   of COVID-19 is significant."

   The Big Ten includes suchlegendary collegiate football programs as Ohio
   State, Michigan and Penn State, while the Pac-12 conference, based
   primarily in the western United States, includes such traditional
   powerhouses as Stanford, the University of Southern California (USC)
   and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

   In addition to football, the Big Ten says it is postponing all of its
   fall sports activities, including men and women's track and field and
   American-style soccer. The Pac-12 said it will not hold any sports
   competitions for the remainder of 2020.

   The two conferences, along with the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern and
   Big 12, make up the so-called "Power Five" major college athletic
   conferences, whose football programs are not only among the best in the
   nation, but also bring in billions of dollars in revenue from ticket
   sales and national television contracts.

   The prospect of any U.S. college football being played during the
   traditional fall season amid the COVID-19 pandemic was thrown into
   doubt well before the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed their seasons. Three
   other lesser conferences, including the Ivy League, which represents
   such prestigious schools as Harvard, Yale and Princeton, have either
   postponed or outright canceled their football seasons. Medical experts
   have expressed concern that otherwise young and healthy athletes could
   develop long term health problems if they contract COVID-19, including
   heart and lung damage.

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