Just over 24 hours after the Big Ten announced its plan to play only conference football games in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, the Pac-12 announced the same intent Friday evening.
“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 the 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 announcement impacts all Pac-12 fall sports.
Greg Byrne, Alabama’s athletic director, issued a comment reported by FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman regarding the move. Alabama was scheduled to play USC in the season-opener.
“With the Pac-12’s decision to move to a conference-only schedule, we will do our best to adjust,” said Byrne. “What that looks like is to be determined.”
The league’s conference — and season — opener is now scheduled to be USC at Stanford, which is slated for Saturday, Sept. 19.
This is a developing story. Updates will be provided as they are available.