KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Enhanced COVID-19 testing and a new battery of medical tests are among the protocols the Big 12 will rely on in pushing forward with fall sports during the upcoming 2020-21 academic year.
The Big 12 Board of Directors, which includes school presidents at the conference’s 10 member institutions, voted Tuesday night to proceed with the season only hours after the Big Ten and Pac-12 pulled the plug.
“The Board has consistently relied on the advice and counsel of top medical experts to determine the viability of available options,” Big 12 Board of Directors Chairman and TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini said in a statement from the conference. “Our student-athletes want to compete, and it is the Board’s collective opinion that sports can be conducted safely and in concert with the best interests of their well-being.”
The decision includes an agreement to continue monitoring “trends and effect of COVID 19” and a willingness to “change course” if the conference’s medical experts say it’s no longer safe to play.
RELATED | KU’s revised football schedule front-loaded with Big 12’s best
RELATED | K-State football gets early Big 12 test at Oklahoma
Players in high-contact sports — including football, volleyball and soccer — will be tested at least three times per week and student-athletes will undergo “an EKG, troponin blood test, echocardiogram, and cardiac MRI” before returning to play after a positive test.
“Opinions vary regarding the best path forward, as we’ve seen throughout higher education and our society overall, but we are comfortable in our institutions’ ability to provide a structured training environment, rigorous testing and surveillance, hospital quality sanitation and mitigation practices that optimize the health and safety of our student-athletes,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. “We believe all of this combines to create an ideal learning and training situation during this time of COVID-19.”
The Big 12 conference has scheduled at least two bye weeks, which may be used to accommodate games if any need to be moved.
Each team will play the other nine Big 12 opponents and are permitted one non-conference game.
Conference play will begin Sept. 26, but teams will be permitted to schedule the non-conference game on either Sept. 12 or Sept. 19 as long as the non-conference team agrees to adhere to testing protocols in line with the Big 12’s during the week before the game.
Attendance at games, if allowed, will be determined by each individual school in accordance with local and state guidelines.
“Our priority is always to promote the health, safety and well-being of every one of our nearly-500 student-athletes, and we will not waiver in that commitment," KU Athletics Director Jeff Long said in a statement. "We have known since the shutdown last spring that it would be a challenge to play college sports during this pandemic. That said, we are confident the additional testing protocols instituted by the members of the Big 12 Conference will allow those student-athletes who choose to move forward and compete the ability to do so this fall."
The Big 12 Championship Game is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Volleyball and soccer teams will only be permitted to play conference games this fall and all games have been postponed until at least Sept. 1.
“Ultimately, our student-athletes have indicated their desire to compete in the sports they love this season and it is up to all of us to deliver a safe, medically sound, and structured academic and athletic environment for accomplishing that outcome,” Bowlsby said.
