College football’s ‘Power 5’ leaders are discussing postponing season amid virus concerns

Leaders from college sports’ “Power Five” conferences discussed postponing the football season and other fall sports over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to reports from multiple sports news outlets including ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, who all cited several sources.

No decision has been reached yet, and the discussions are expected to continue over the next few days.

“It’s an ongoing conversation we’ve been having for weeks,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told CBS Sports on Sunday night. “We talk almost every day. I’m not aware decisions have been made.”

The discussion took place in the same weekend the US crossed 5 million cases of the virus. At least 5,044,864 people have tested positive and 162,938 have died as of Monday morning, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

A source within one of the conferences tells CNN that the Power Five conference commissioners have been meeting for months to discuss the fate of fall sports and would continue to do so.

The Power Five conferences consist of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference, the Pac-12 Conference, and the Southeastern Conference.

CNN has reached out to each of the Power Five conferences for more information. When asked about the situation, the NCAA advised CNN to seek comment from the individual conferences.

On Saturday, the Mid-American Conference announced that it was postponing its fall sports schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. The MAC is the first conference from NCAA’s top tier Division I Football Bowl Subdivision to postpone its football season.

Aside from football, the other fall collegiate sports include men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, and women’s volleyball.