PHOENIX — The Pac-12 conference has canceled its fall college football season due to coronavirus concerns, and hopes to play football in the spring, the conference announced Tuesday.
Additionally, all sports in the conference will be postponed until at least the end of the 2020 calendar year. This means that Pac-12 college basketball, which begins for men and women in November, will also be pushed back.
The Pac-12 decision comes just hours after the Big Ten announced it would cancel the fall season with hopes to play in the spring.
The Big Ten was the first "Power Five" conference to make the decision, the Pac-12 marks the second. The Mid-American Conference became the first FBS conference to cancel its season when it announced the decision on Aug. 8.
"The Pac-12 CEO Group voted unanimously to postpone all sport competitions through the end of the 2020 calendar year," the statement from the Pac-12 said.
The Pac-12 released approved conference-only schedules for the fall football season just 11 days ago.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and when conditions change we will be ready to explore all options to play the impacted sports in the new calendar year,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement.
"We have made clear that all of their scholarships will be guaranteed, and that as a Conference we are strongly encouraging the NCAA to grant them an additional year of eligibility," Scott said.
Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels and Arizona quarterback Grant Gunnell both took to Twitter over the weekend to join the #WeWantToPlay movement coming from college athletes across the country as conferences were deciding whether they would go ahead with their respective seasons.
After the Big Ten's announcement Tuesday morning, Ohio State quarterback and potential top pick in next year's NFL Draft, Justin Fields tweeted his displeasure with the decision with "Smh.." (shaking my head).
After news broke that the Pac-12 was cancelling fall football, Daniels also tweeted:
Arizona State was coming off an 8-5 year after winning their last three games, over No. 6 Oregon, rival Arizona and Florida State in the Sun Bowl. Daniels was entering his sophomore season.
Arizona was coming off a 4-8 season.
