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Big Ten Presidents Consider Reviving Football Season After Weekend Meetings

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields plays against Wisconsin during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio.
Jay LaPrete
/
AP
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields plays against Wisconsin during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio.

Sunday came and went without a vote by Big Ten university leaders on whether to revive the fall football season.

ESPN and other media outlets report ithe decision could still come in the next few days. ESPN previously reportedthat a vote to bring back the football season postponed by coronavirus was likely, while Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has said the conference would not reconsider the decision.

The original vote to cancel fall sports was 11-3, and at least six university leaders would need to change their vote in order for football to resume.

On Saturday, the Big Ten presidents were presented a comprehensive plan to conduct a fall football season. A person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that the full Council of Presidents and Chancellors heard from all the subcommittees of the conference’s Return to Competition Task Force over two and half hours.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Big Ten was not making its return to competition plans public. The person said the Saturday meeting broke up without the presidents and chancellors voting and with no set plans for them to reconvene.

Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day has called on the Big Ten to restart the delayed season in mid-October. 

"The Big Ten medical subcommittee has done an excellent job of creating a safe pathway toward returning to play in mid-October," Day wrote in a statement. "Our players want to know: why can't they play?"