After an August announcement that fall and winter sports would not be played until 2021 because of coronavirus concerns, the Pac-12 CEO Group announced Thursday that the conference will resume its football, basketball, and winter sports seasons in the coming weeks.
The group says the decision was based on updated recommendations from the Medical Advisory Committee. University of Oregon President Michael Schill is the chair of the Pac-12 CEO group. In a virtual press conference announcing the decision on Thursday, he said one of the things that changed is the access to daily COVID-19 testing. Schill said "that will allow us to identify if anyone becomes infected and remove them from play before they infect other people or end up with long term damage if that would occur."
The decision means football season can begin Nov. 6 and men’s and women’s basketball will resume on Nov. 25. Other fall sports including volleyball, soccer, and cross country will begin in January and Other winter sports will begin on time.
For football, teams will play each of their five division rivals in the 2020 regular season, plus one team from the other division.
All Pac-12 games will be played without fans in attendance. The group said the decision to not allow fans at competitions will be revisited based upon health and safety considerations in Jan., 2021.
Both University of Oregon and Oregon State University are members of the Pac-12 conference.
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