Big 12 moves forward with fall football, after Big Ten and Pac-12 push back seasons

The Big 12 Conference will proceed with its upcoming fall sports season, the collegiate athletic league said on Wednesday, a day after two other “Power Five” conferences said they would postpone the upcoming football season.

The Big 12, one of the most powerful conferences in all of U.S. college football that includes reliable favorites, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Texas at Austin in its ranks, said it was confident sports could be conducted safely with enhanced measures to mitigate the risk of COVID-19.

“We are comfortable in our institutions’ ability to provide a structured training environment, rigorous testing and surveillance, hospital-quality sanitation and mitigation practices,” said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby.

Pac-12 and Big Ten said on Tuesday that they would each postpone their upcoming football seasons, citing the continuing coronavirus outbreak, with Pac-12 planning to host no sports competitions for the remainder of 2020 and Big Ten pushing back its entire fall sports lineup. Both have said they would evaluate the possibility of holding competitions in the spring.