Pac-12 cancels many fall games
Stanford loses Notre Dame game and Cal loses matchups with TCU, UNLV
Pac-12 football teams will keep to themselves this season, with school administrators announcing Friday all nonconference games have been canceled as they search for ways to save a season threatened by the coronavirus pandemic.
The new plan will involve only conference games in all Pac-12 fall sports. Football, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer games will only be played within the conference, according to the conference’s release.
The move means Cal will lose its scheduled football season opener against UNLV at the Raiders’ new $2 billion Allegiant Stadium on Aug. 29 as well as a home game against Big 12 power TCU.
Stanford, meanwhile, won’t play its annual showdown against Notre Dame, which was set for Oct. 10 in South Bend, Indiana. The Cardinal’s season opener against William &
Mary is also off.
The school’s powerhouse women’s volleyball and women’s soccer teams will also be skipping the interconference tournament circuit, which usually provides a chance to test themselves against other top teams across the nation.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”
The conference also said it would delay the start to any mandatory athletic activities “until a series of health and safety indicators” showed improvement. The statement did not identify specific metrics or thresholds that must be met. Several Pac-12 schools have field hockey teams, which play in the fall, but the conference does not organize that sport.
Athletes who opt not to play this season — if it happens — will have their scholarships honored by their schools, the announcement said.
The Pac-12 becomes the second Power Five conference to eliminate nonconference football matchups, joining the Big Ten, which rocked college football with its decision Thursday. The ACC is expected to follow suit soon, leaving the SEC and Big 12 with no option but to go to conference-only play.
A longtime Power Five football administrator told the Bay Area News Group’s Pac-12 Hotline earlier this week that eliminating nonconference games was necessary, telling us “it’s the only way there can be a season.”
In theory, ditching nonconference games and the issues they come with — including travel — gives Pac12 schools a better chance to control possible scheduling changes as well as their protocols, especially with both Southern California and Arizona reinstating restrictions after spiking COVID-19 cases. But the plausibility of teams traveling within the conference to play each other is still up in the air.
The conference said it would release conferenceonly schedule details no later than July 31 for all affected sports.
If all goes according to plan, the Pac-12 is still planning to crown its champion when its two division winners meet in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. It’s not immediately clear if the championship will be played as scheduled on Friday, Dec. 4, in Vegas.
Included in the Big Ten’s announcement Thursday was the sobering acknowledgement the coronavirus’ impact could force the conference to call off all games. Since football’s revenues at Power Five conferences fuel most aspects of schools’ athletic budgets, delaying the season until the winter or spring for all conferences would naturally be explored before calling off the season entirely.
On Friday, the Pac-12 reported it generated a record $530.4 million in revenue for Fiscal Year 2019 and distributed an average of $32.2 million to each school.
Speaking of finances, Cal’s contract to play UNLV, which includes a 2022 game played at Memorial Stadium, reportedly includes a $1 million payment for cancelation. UNLV was also scheduled to play Arizona State. But Cal, Arizona State and the Pac-12 should be off the hook for that fee since the deal includes a force majeure clause — and the pandemic should be a qualifying event.