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Extensive Testing and Research Allows Big Ten Football Season To Commence

 

Photo courtesy of profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

By Sarah Vandermolen

In a recent press conference, the Big Ten Conference has revealed that they will be conducting football this fall after a unanimous vote. This announcement overwrites the decision the committee made in early August to cancel football this fall.

In the weeks prior to the announcement, the Conference was considering a revote and began conducting a list of preventative measures that would need to be taken in order to ensure the safety of all players and staff. The Big Ten has stated that the fall football season will begin on October 23, and conclude on December 19 with a Championship Week. Each team in the conference will play a total of 8 games, not including the Championship Week.

In an announcement on the Big Ten's official website, bigten.org, the conference stated, "The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) adopted significant medical protocols including daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening and an enhanced data-driven approach when making decisions about practice/competition."

All athletes, coaches, trainers, and anyone present regularly on the field will have to undergo daily antigen testing before practice or a game can begin. According to bigten.org, "Student-athletes who test positive for the coronavirus through point of contact (POC) daily testing would require a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to confirm the result of the POC test."

The Big Ten colleges plan on using the data collected from their teams to study COVID-19 and "attempt to mitigate the spread of the disease among wider communities," according to bigten.org. A Chief Infection Officer (CInO) will be appointed at every university to collect this date.

The Big Ten is taking extremely cautious measures in regard to monitoring their infected players. Bigten.org states:

All COVID-19 positive student-athletes will have to undergo comprehensive cardiac testing to include labs and biomarkers, ECG, Echocardiogram and a Cardiac MRI. Following cardiac evaluation, student-athletes must receive clearance from a cardiologist designated by the university for the primary purpose of cardiac clearance for COVID-19 positive student-athletes. The earliest a student-athlete can return to game competition is 21 days following a COVID-19 positive diagnosis. 

The Conference stated that testing will begin on September 30.

They concluded their conference with a mention to the remaining fall sports, stating "Eventually all Big Ten sports will require testing protocols before they can resume competition. Updates regarding fall sports other than football, as well as winter sports that begin in the fall including men's and women's basketball, men's ice hockey, men's and women's swimming and diving, and wrestling, will be announced shortly."

Read the full Big Ten statement here and look at the Fall 2020 Football schedule here.

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