The Big Ten announced Friday that its 2020 football media days and kickoff luncheon, scheduled for July 22-23 in Chicago, will not be held as scheduled in order to "ensure the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, fans, partners and media."
The Big Ten is the third Power Five conference to announce changes to their events. The Pac-12 and Big 12 have already announced that their media days events will not be in-person this summer. The Big Ten has not determined if it will follow the path set by their Power Five partners and go virtual or simply reschedule the event to a later date.
"The Conference will continue to monitor developing information and continue to consult with medical experts to determine the appropriate dates and format for our annual event," the conference said in a statement.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered how college football programs have approached the offseason. Spring games were canceled, spring practice sessions were either cut short or totally canceled and players have not been allowed on campus to participate in workouts and voluntary on-campus training.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. The NCAA announced earlier this week that it has lifted the ban on in-person workouts, and students will allow to return to campus starting on June 1. Ohio State has already announced that it is targeting June 8 as its targeted return date. The SEC announced on Friday that June 8 is the first day that its schools can return to voluntary in-person training.
