Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren outlines reasons for postponing football season

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren tells us why his conference isn’t playing.

Kevin Warren sent out an open letter to explain his conference’s decision-making process.

The Big Ten famously punted on playing college football this fall earlier this month. While the Pac-12 followed suit, the ACC, Big 12 and SEC are still planning on playing. Out of the Group of 5, the MAC and Mountain West won’t play, while the AAC, Conference USA and the Sun Belt are going forward with their upcoming seasons. Here is what Warren wrote in his lengthy letter on Wednesday.

“I write on this occasion to share with you additional information regarding the Big Ten Conference’s decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season.

“We thoroughly understand and deeply value what sports mean to our student-athletes, their families, our coaches and our fans. The vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) was overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited.

“The decision was thorough and deliberative, and based on sound feedback, guidance and advice from medical experts.

“Despite the decision to postpone fall sports, we continue our work to find a path forward that creates a healthy and safe environment for all Big Ten student-athletes to compete in the sports they love in a manner that helps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protects both student-athletes and the surrounding communities.”

What were the biggest reasons the Big Ten postponed its football season?

Though he didn’t publicly share the final “voting numbers” or who voted for what side a full six days after the Big Ten released a revised 10-game, conference-only schedule, Warren went on to outline three primary reasons why the conference decided it wasn’t safe to play college football this fall in the Midwest’s Power 5 conference:

• Transmission rates continuing to climb
• Uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus itself
• Concerns about contact tracing

While these are all reasonable concerns, waiting until Labor Day Weekend at the absolute earliest before pulling the plug might have served the Big Ten better here. Pretty much since the Big Ten decided to punt on fall football, the number of confirmed cases nationwide have plummeted. While cases are up on college campuses, this was completely expected with the return of students this fall.

Since the Big Ten decided against football, there seems to be a saliva-based coronavirus test that costs $4 per test rather than the $100 it costs to do the deep nasal swab one. The accuracy of the saliva-based test might be 90 percent accurate or so, but it can cut down on time between tests and allow more to be conducted. It saves time, money and possibly aids with contract tracing.

Even if Warren sent out this letter, he has been raked over the coals by so many people over the last week and change. Parents of Big Ten football players at perennial powers like Ohio State and Penn State are livid. Everything surrounding the postponement of Big Ten football has been a colossal train wreck. Though Warren sent out a letter on Wednesday, the damage is already done.

While Warren gave a sliver of transparency from Big Ten country, it still doesn’t feel like enough.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.