Big Ten announces 2021 football season COVID-19 policy
If there are no repeats of what happened in 2020 in terms of teams having to cancel games due to COVID-19, that would be all the better once the 2021 college football season starts.
While there are high vaccination rates on teams, variants still are spreading through the country. And if a program is incapable of fielding a team for a matchup, then it won’t just be no big deal. The canceling team will have a loss on their record, according to the Big Ten.
The Big Ten released its COVID-19 policy on Monday morning, and if a team cannot play, it will receive a loss and the other team will get the win. If both teams have to cancel, then it’s considered a no-contest.
In collaboration and communication with the Big Ten Conference Athletic Directors, Chancellors and Presidents, the Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Sports Medicine Committee – effective today – the conference has determined that if one of its member institutions is unable to play a conference contest due to COVID-19, that contest shall be declared a forfeit and will not be rescheduled. That contest shall be considered a loss for the team impacted by COVID-19 and a win for its opponent in the conference standings. If both of the two competing teams are unable to participate in a scheduled Conference competition due to COVID-19 and as a result the competition is unable to occur on the calendar day on which it is scheduled, the competition shall be considered a “no contest.”
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For Michigan football, had this been the policy last season, the year’s record would have looked significantly worse, as the 2-4 win-loss would have instead been a 2-7.
However, while there are serious unknowns about how a season will transpire, given that teams have been able to get through training camps with no issues signifies that the college football season is likely to go off without a hitch, barring any significant changes.
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