UConn cancels football season due to pandemic

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    MANSFIELD, Conn. (Hartford Business Journal) — The University of Connecticut will cancel its upcoming football season amid health concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“After receiving guidance from state and public health officials and consulting with football student-athletes, we’ve decided that we will not compete on the gridiron this season,” UConn Director of Athletics David Benedict said Wednesday morning. “The safety challenges created by COVID-19 place our football student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk.”

Members of the football team will remain enrolled in classes, and will retain full-time student status with access to UConn’s facilities, Benedict said.

The cancelation ends any prospect for what would have been UConn’s first season as an independent team, after playing its final season in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) last year.

UConn President Thomas Katsouleas on Wednesday said the decision to cancel the football season is the right one.

“These young men love competing for UConn and our fans love cheering for them on Saturdays,” Katsouleas said. “But the associated health risks are too much to overcome and I agree this is the best course of action.”

The domino effect

As the first domino to fall, UConn’s decision is likely to trigger a chain reaction felt across the college football landscape.

Four of the team’s scheduled games — home tilts versus Indiana and Maine, as well as road contests at Illinois and Mississippi — had already been canceled by those schools’ conferences. Wednesday’s news wipes out eight additional games, including matchups with Atlantic Coast Conference schools Virginia and North Carolina that were already in question.

“We engaged and listened to the concerns of our football student-athletes and feel this is the best decision for their health, safety, and well-being,” said Huskies head coach Randy Edsall in the school’s release.

Now what?

Last season Connecticut finished 2-10 overall, with an 0-8 mark in league play. The program’s focus now shifts to 2021.

“Our team is united in this approach and we will use this time to further player development within the program and gear ourselves to the 2021 season,” said Edsall.

By forgoing the 2020 campaign, UConn’s athletes retain their year of eligibility. Meanwhile, football players remain enrolled in school and will continue to have access to services and facilities so as to remain on track academically despite the pigskin hiatus.

The school says it’s been nearly a month since any student-athlete has tested positive for coronavirus.

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