Big Ten football could start “immediately” — if the president of the United States has anything to say about it.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday about having a “very productive” conversation with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren on the topic of starting the Big Ten football season, which the conference later confirmed in a statement.
“Would be good [great!] for everyone — Players, Fans, Country. On the one yard line!” Trump wrote.
Trump added some details later before departing for an appearance in the Midwest, the location of several potential swing states for November’s presidential election.
“Let’s see what happens. [Warren’s] a great guy. It’s a great conference. Tremendous teams. And we’re pushing very hard,” Trump said, per a White House press office transcript. “I think the biggest headwind we have is that you have Democrats that don’t want to see it happen. But I think they want to play, and the fans want to see it, and the players have a lot at stake, including possibly playing in the NFL. You have a lot of great players in that conference.”
The Big Ten postponed its fall sports Aug. 11, citing health and safety concerns of playing during the coronavirus pandemic. Several member schools, coaches, athletes and parents have since pushed back on that decision, demanding a reversal or at least more transparent communication on how that decision came to be.
As it stands now, though, the conference isn’t planning to play until winter 2021, though a plan to start around Thanksgiving also is being considered.
Many athletics departments still are struggling with coronavirus outbreaks. For example, Iowa recently paused all of its sports until after Labor Day, reporting 93 positive cases out of 815 tests given through last week. Since Iowa began reporting results May 29, the department has administered more than 2,700 tests, with 176 coming back positive.
The Big Ten’s statement confirmed that a White House representative reached out to Warren on Monday to schedule the phone call with Trump on Tuesday. The statement also called the discussion “productive” but didn’t address the prospect of playing in the immediate future.
“The Big Ten Conference and its Return to Competition Task Force, on behalf of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C), are exhausting every resource to help student-athletes get back to playing the sports they love,” the statement read, “at the appropriate time, in the safest and healthiest way possible.”
A Yahoo Sports report said multiple conference sources not only denied but “heartily laughed at” the prospect of immediately returning to play. The main onus for the conversation was to see if the Big Ten could have access to rapid COVID-19 tests, which could be a big boon in-season, per the report.
ESPN reported the Big Ten’s next steps still remain the same, including needing to meet certain medical benchmarks as well as have at least 60% of the conference’s presidents and chancellors vote in favor of restarting the season. Court filings reported Monday stated the vote to cancel fall sports was 11-3.
But Trump, at least, isn’t ready accept the Big Ten’s decision, especially with other leagues such as the SEC and Big 12 scheduled to play soon.
“Maybe we’ll be very nicely surprised,” he said. “They had it closed up, and I think they’d like to see it open, along with a lot of other football that’s being played right now.”
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September 02, 2020 at 09:37AM
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President Donald Trump tweets about 'very productive' talk with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren on restarting football season - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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