The PAC-12 conference joined the Big Ten Conference in announcing it will only play in-conference games for fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision applies to football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
Among the games affected are USC vs. Alabama, scheduled to open the season at AT&T Stadium in Arlington is canceled due to the decision.
TCU vs. California, Oklahoma State vs. Oregon State and Texas Tech vs. Arizona are all canceled due to the decision.
The PAC-12 also said it is delaying the start of mandatory athletic activities until a series of health and safety indicators provide sufficient positive data to enable a move to a second phase of return-to-play activities.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to PAC-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” said PAC-12 Commissioner Larry Scott in a statement on the PAC-12 website. “Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”
The conference continued to say that athletes who choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics during the academic year because of COVID-19 concerns will continue to have their scholarships honored by their university and will remain in good standing with their team.
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Details on conference-only schedules will be announced no later than July 31, according to the statement.
