President Trump speaks with Big Ten commissioner about restoring 2020 fall football season
The president said he and Kevin Warren had a "very productive" talk about restoring the fall season. He said their discussions were on "the one-yard line."
The push by players, coaches and parents to convince Big Ten presidents to restore the 2020 fall football season received assistance Tuesday from President Donald Trump, who said he had a “very productive” meeting with conference commissioner Kevin Warren on the subject.
Trump wrote on Twitter after the meeting that he and Warren had discussed “immediately starting up Big Ten football” amid the coronavirus pandemic and said their talks were “on the one-yard line.”
Later, speaking from the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departing for Kenosha, Wis., Trump said he and Warren “had a very good, conversation, very productive.”
“Maybe we’ll be very nicely surprised,” Trump was quoted as saying by ESPN. “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.”
“I think it was very productive about getting [the] Big Ten playing again, and immediately, and let’s see what happens.”
The Big Ten released a statement confirming the phone conversation between Trump and Warren, which took place one day after a White House representative had reached out to the conference on the issue. The conference’s 14 member teams are located in 11 states, including the so-called “battleground” states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
The statement added: “The Big Ten Conference and its Return to Competition Task Force, on behalf of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, are exhausting every resource to help student-athletes get back to playing the sports they love, at the appropriate time, in the safest and healthiest way possible.”
Later Tuesday, quoting a source, radio talk show host Dan Patrick said on Twitter: “If conference can pass updated safety measures and procedures, Big Ten targeting Oct. 10 to start football season.”
There are several obstacles in the way of that happening. ESPN reported that no formal plan to return has been submitted to presidents and chancellors for consideration. Plus, the original vote on Aug. 11 to cancel football was 11-3. With a motion needing 60% for approval, six of those who cast ballots against playing would have to change their votes.
Warren, in a letter on Aug. 19, had said the decision to cancel the fall season would not be revisited.
The conference’s Return to Competition Task Force, made up of coaches, athletic directors and medical personnel, has discussed a number of dates to start a season, including late November, early January, or toward the end of winter. But the committee must submit a plan that would lessen the concerns of presidents and chancellors about the risks of playing in a pandemic.