USC, UCLA Football Not Restricted from Playing, LA Health Department Rules

After initially deciding to postpone all fall sports through the 2020 calendar year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pac-12 is now looking to hold a football season beginning around Oct. 31, per Jon Wilner of the Mercury News.  

With that news in mind, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department released a statement clearing USC and UCLA to play football provided they follow California state health guidelines and NCAA rules, per ESPN's Kyle Bonagura.

"We have not placed other local restrictions or requirements so that means as long as the institution is implementing its athletic program in compliance with all the guidelines within the state document (which also includes a requirement to adhere to all NCAA directives), it is permitted in Los Angeles County," the statement read.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 initially decided against playing football in 2020, but the former conference recently announced plans to play beginning the weekend of Oct. 24.

The Pac-12 appears to be following suit, which means that all Power Five conferences could be in action this fall.

Although the L.A. County Health Department's clearance for USC and UCLA to participate in football represents one hurdle cleared en route to the Pac-12 playing football, other obstacles still remain.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, who spoke with SportsCenter on Wednesday, per Bonagura, outlined some of them en route to providing his hopeful timeline:

"Getting the local county approvals as soon as possible would allow our student-athletes and our coaches to start what we think of as normal practice. And then, the best-case scenario is six weeks of practice, training camp, and starting end of October, early November.

"But that's still subject to county approvals, which we don't have yet. So that's the best case. And we're gonna do everything possible to play this fall if we can, play a Pac-12 championship game, and have teams compete for a College Football Playoff, if it's possible."

Per Bonagura, the Pac-12's CEO Group will meet Friday to speak about numerous scenarios regarding a potential 2020 season in addition to receiving opinions from the Pac-12 medical advisory group. A vote may be held regarding the conference's plan of action, though that is not guaranteed.

Any vote would be "contingent on receiving the necessary go-aheads from local governments," per Bonagura, as well as "other factors related to public health and the coronavirus pandemic."

The Pac-12 consists of UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.