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    Report: 2020 CFB Season Cancellation or Postponement 'Seems Inevitable'

    Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured ColumnistAugust 9, 2020

    FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2019, file photo, the Big Ten logo is displayed on the field before an NCAA college football game between Iowa and Miami of Ohio in Iowa City, Iowa. The Big Ten released its 10-game conference-only football schedule beginning as early as Labor Day weekend but cautioned there is no certainty games will be played. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
    Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

    Presidents from the Big Ten "are ready to pull the plug on its fall sports season," according to a report from ESPN. Were that to happen, it could have a domino effect on the other Power Five conferences.

    "Several sources have told ESPN over the last 48 hours that the postponement or cancellation of the football season seems inevitable," the report said. "Many of those sources believed that it ultimately will take a Power Five conference to move things in that direction, and that either the Big Ten or Pac-12 would probably be the first league to do it."

    Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde echoed the report:

    Pat Forde @ByPatForde

    Sources: Attempts to salvage the fall 2020 college football season are all but over. “It’s gotten to a critical stage," one told SI. "I think all of us will be meeting with our boards in the coming days. We have work to do that is no fun.”

    The Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12 have all made changes to their 2020 football schedules to account for the COVID-19 pandemic, either limiting the number of nonconference games or eliminating them entirely.

    However, many wondered if conference commissioners could still forestall more drastic steps with little progress made in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus across the United States.

    That discussion reached a fever pitch after the Mid-American Conference postponed all of its fall sports, including football. The MAC was potentially the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

    Report: 2020 CFB Season Cancellation or Postponement 'Seems Inevitable'
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    Forde and Ross Dellenger reported for Sports Illustrated on Aug. 1 that Power Five conference leaders "have begun exploring the possibility of staging their own championships" in the event the NCAA issued a blanket suspension or cancellation of fall sports.

    That kind of plan would be all but impossible, though, if one of the five wiped out a 2020 fall football season, which is to say nothing of the logistical hurdles of making that concept a reality.

    Spring football would be better than no football at all, but a postponement could lead to more players opting out to focus on the 2021 NFL draft. A spring season would almost certainly overlap with next year's draft or run close enough so as to limit how much prospective prospects could work out and meet with teams.

    A handful of notable stars already signaled their desire to prepare for the draft, and that list will likely grow if what "seems inevitable" comes to pass.