Pac-12 going with conference-only schedule for fall sports

Another conference has decided it will only have league games for fall sports due to the coronavirus.

On Friday, the Pac-12 announced it would go to a conference-only schedule for several fall sports and delay the start of its college football games, which were set to begin the first weekend of September.

For now, the sports going to conference-only schedules include football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball.

In addition, Pac-12 student-athletes who choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics during the coming academic year because of safety concerns about COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarships honored by their university and will remain in good standing with their team. Hopefully, all of the athletic conferences follow suit, as no athlete should have to compete this fall if they do not feel it’s safe for the health and safety of themselves and their family.

This comes after the Big Ten announced Thursday it was going with a conference-only schedule for fall sports, becoming the first Power 5 league to do so. The expectation is all other Power 5 leagues will follow suit, including the SEC, ACC and Big 12. It remains unclear how many games each conference will play, but the early favorite is 10 league games in the regular season, followed by league title games and the bowl season.

At this point, let’s just hope there are any football games this fall, as there’s a very real chance the virus prevents football from being played for the remainder of 2020.