Big Ten football fans may have reason to believe member schools will play this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic. Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten targeting Oct. 10 for start of football?

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 9/1/20

Big Ten football fans may have reason to believe member schools will play this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump confirmed that he'd recently spoken with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren about the call to postpone football and other fall sports due to the uncontrolled virus outbreak that the league announced on Aug. 11.

Later, Peacock's Dan Patrick offered a date for when Big Ten football may get underway:

“From source: If conference can pass updated safety measures and procedures, Big Ten targeting Oct. 10 to start football season.” - Dan Patrick
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 1, 2020

However, The Athletic's Stewart Mandel added:

Just a reminder that the Big Ten's presidents decide when they return to play. Not Kevin Warren, not the ADs, not the coaches, not the players' parents.

And the presidents aren't the ones leaking these tantalizing October/Thanksgiving possibilities.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 1, 2020

Last week, Northwestern president Morton Schapiro ordered their freshmen/sophomores to stay home and closed fraternities and sororities. He is chairman of the B1G's presidents. Does that sound like someone who would abruptly pivot to October football?
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 1, 2020

Previously, Warren wrote in a letter shared by the official Big Ten website that the decision to postpone football and other fall sports "will not be revisited."

On Monday, The Athletic reported that 11 of 14 Big Ten presidents and chancellors voted to postpone fall competitions after they learned that a study conducted by Ohio State director of sports cardiology Dr. Curt Daniels discovered that approximately 15% of college athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 contracted myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can cause sudden cardiac arrest.

That study awaits peer review.

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