It seems as though Nebraska has ended speculation about breaking from the Big Ten’s plan to postpone fall football. After conference presidents and chancellors voted Tuesday to postpone all fall sports, Nebraska leadership (which included the names of chancellor Ronnie Green, president Ted Carter, AD Bill Moos, and head coach Scott Frost) issued a statement saying they were disappointed by the conference’s decision and said “We hope it may be possible for our student athletes to have the opportunity to compete.”
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren told ESPN Wednesday night that finding a way to play football games in the fall outside the conference was not considered viable. “We have 14 schools in the Big Ten conference. I appreciate the passion of all of our schools. I didn’t expect all of our coaches to be ecstatic that the decision was made, so I understand they’re passionate…My expectation is that when you’re in a conference, you can’t be in a conference and be an independent. That’s where we are. I expect for our 14 members to go forward together.”
According to ESPN, the Big 10 holds all of the Huskers’ media rights. The league earned $781.5 million in the most recent fiscal year, according to USA Today, with Nebraska earning a $55.6 million payout.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day also pondered the possibility of playing outside the Big Ten saying, “We need to look at every option, and if that’s the only option at the time, we will explore it.” OSU athletic director Gene Smith later stated that the school would not pursue anything in the fall. Smith said, “We talked about what Nebraska was doing, looked at options that way, but it wasn’t realistic. We just embraced the spring…”
