The Big Ten has a plan for a winter football season and it should give fans reason to be optimistic the league can pull it off.
The Big Ten decided to postpone the fall football season and several head coaches in the conference have continued to fight to play. There was seemingly a lack of communication that had teams and fans wondering if there was ever a proper plan in place.
The ultimate plan appears to be to play a season in the winter. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day brought up this idea once the fall season was canceled and an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Jeff Potrykus lays out the reported plan to begin play in January.
Big Ten football in the winter will be a unique experience but the league has a plan they hope to execute.
The key points involve the fact the teams could use indoor facilities in the Big Ten region and play something around an eight-game schedule. Domes in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Detroit would be used to host the Big Ten football games inside rather than playing in the frigid elements in the Midwest in January and February.
Additionally, this would make for a shorter season and reduce the physical toll on players who will return to play again in the fall.
Beginning the season at the start of January solves the problem of playing too close to the 2021 NFL Draft. However, a star player like Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields may still choose to sit out and prepare for the draft. It would be hard to fault anyone making that decision, even without factoring in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, the prospect of a winter season seems more tangible than a spring season.
It remains frustrating that the conference is so quick to make a winter plan after they had months to make a proper plan for the fall. Still, a winter season is better than nothing at all and the lack of leadership shown in college football could lead to positive changes over time.
The Big Ten already released a fall schedule that was quickly scrapped. Now the conference has to make sure a proper plan is in place for player safety before rushing out a new schedule for the winter. Having over four months to prepare and being forced to cancel again could lead to a mutiny within the Big Ten.
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