Big 12 Announces Games Canceled Due to COVID-19 Will Result in Forfeit and a Loss

Any football games canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak will result in a forfeit and loss, the Big 12 announced Tuesday.

In a statement from the conference, league officials made clear it will not revise its schedule for conference games and opponents will be handed a win on their record if a game cannot be played because of an outbreak:

"The Big 12 Conference has set its game threshold policy for the upcoming season.  In the event a Conference game is canceled due to a team not having enough student-athletes to compete (due to COVID-19 or for any reason), that team will forfeit and will be credited with a loss in the Conference standings. The opponent will be credited with a win in the Conference standings. Both teams will be deemed to have played the game for purposes of Conference standings only. A forfeit can be declared at any point before a completed contest, and when possible would occur prior to the visiting team commencing travel. Additionally, if both teams are unable to compete, a No Contest would be declared and, if needed, an unbalanced tiebreaker would be utilized to determine Conference championship participants in football or championship seeding in other sports. The Commissioner retains discretion to declare a No Contest if extraordinary circumstances warrant." "

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made a similar declaration during the league's media days in mid-July, telling reporters the league will not be rescheduling any games if an outbreak impacts member programs.

"You're expected to play as scheduled," Sankey said. "That means your team needs to be healthy to compete, and if not, that game won't be rescheduled. And thus, to dispose of the game, the 'forfeit' word comes up at this point."

Likewise, the Pac-12 announced a similar policy on Aug. 12. The conference held a shortened season in 2020 because of the pandemic, with some teams playing just four games after a number of contests were canceled because of outbreaks and contact tracing.

The 2020 season saw 139 games canceled or postpone as the sport's power brokers attempted to navigate the pandemic. Now, with vaccines available and greater knowledge of how to stay safe, the SEC and Big 12 are not giving their members any breaks should COVID-19 make its way into the locker room.

"It's not a political football," Sankey said of vaccines in July. "And we need to do our part to support a healthy society because, as we look back, the potential absence of college sports last year caused us to think about not losing sight of the lifelong experiences, the laboratory of learning that takes place, and the educational benefits that accrue to the people who participate on our teams."

The Big 12's decision could have a major impact on national title contender No. 2 Oklahoma as well as No. 7 Iowa State and No. 21 Texas.