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Kevin Warren's open letter to the Big Ten community

Assuming you read the letter, how do you comprehend "the Big Ten Council of President and Chancellors [voted] overwhelmingly to support postponement" declaration? A lie? A bluff?
A lie. 8-6 is not overwhelming. You have OSU, PSU, Iowa, and Nebraska reportedly trying to get Wisco and UM on board to go.

If it was overwhelming there wouldn't be so much push back and leaking and infighting inside the conference right now.
 
A lie. 8-6 is not overwhelming. You have OSU, PSU, Iowa, and Nebraska reportedly trying to get Wisco and UM on board to go.

If it was overwhelming there wouldn't be so much push back and leaking and infighting inside the conference right now.

If those six said we're playing. There is nothing Warren could do. He's not kicking them all out.
 
Where did they get this clown and why does he still have a job? I like the end; we are going to form a Task Force. Yes that will solve all of the problems, this tool used so much corporate-speak that he made Barta sound like Robin Williams. ****ing lawyers.
 
Not much of that is going to change by January as far as people testing positive and unknowns.

I don’t think they play until there is a vaccine in some conferences.
 
Time for teams that want to play to band together and and announce we play or withdraw from the BIG and form our own conference. I bet Warren would reconsider it then. As it stands he's cost these universities more than a billion dollars in revenue and cost the players a chance to decide for themselves which could have a negative result on their future.

The draft eligible players should also file a lawsuit against the conference seeking potential lost revenue.
 
An Open Letter to the Big Ten Community

[Open Letter PDF]

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.

As you are well aware, we are facing a complicated global pandemic with the SARS-CoV-2 virus discovered in November 2019. The first medically confirmed cases did not appear in the United States until January 2020. Over the course of the past seven months, the U.S. has recorded more than 5.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in more than 170,000 deaths, with more than 22 million confirmed cases and 780,000 lives lost around the world.

We understand the disappointment and questions surrounding the timing of our decision to postpone fall sports, especially in light of releasing a football schedule only six days prior to that decision. From the beginning, we consistently communicated our commitment to cautiously proceed one day at a time with the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes at the center of our decision-making process. That is why we took simultaneous paths in releasing the football schedule, while also diligently monitoring the spread of the virus, testing, and medical concerns as student-athletes were transitioning to full-contact practice.

While several factors contributed to the decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season, at the core of our decision was the knowledge that there was too much medical uncertainty and too many unknown health risks regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection and its impact on our student-athletes.

Listed below are the primary factors that led to the Big Ten COP/C decision:
  • Transmission rates continue to rise at an alarming rate with little indication from medical experts that our campuses, communities or country could gain control of the spread of the virus prior to the start of competition.
    • As our teams were ramping up for more intense practices, many of our medical staffs did not think the interventions we had planned would be adequate to decrease the potential spread even with very regular testing.
    • As the general student body comes back to campus, spread to student-athletes could reintroduce infection into our athletics community.
  • There is simply too much we do not know about the virus, recovery from infection, and longer-term effects. While the data on cardiomyopathy is preliminary and incomplete, the uncertain risk was unacceptable at this time.
  • Concerns surrounding contact tracing still exist, including the inability to social distance in contact sports pursuant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. While risk mitigation processes (e.g., physical distancing, face coverings, proper hygiene, etc.) can be implemented across campus for the student body population, it became clear those processes could not be fully implemented in contact sports.
    • With the start of full-contact practices and competitions, it became increasingly clear that contact tracing and quarantining would risk frequent and significant disruptions to the practice and competition calendar.
    • Accurate and widely available rapid testing may help mitigate those concerns, but access to accurate tests is currently limited.
    • Significant concerns also exist regarding the testing supply chain, generally, for many of our institutions.
Financial considerations did not influence the COP/C decision, as the postponement will have enormous adverse financial implications. We understand the passion of the many student-athletes and their families who were disappointed by the decision, but also know there are many who have a great deal of concern and anxiety regarding the pandemic.

Moving forward, we will continue to build upon the framework that our medical experts have developed over the past five months while we take the opportunity to learn more about the virus and its effects. As we expand upon a plan to allow our student-athletes to compete as soon as it is safe to do so, we will keep our focus on creating protocols and standards set forth and established by our medical advisors that are responsive to the medical concerns evaluated by our COP/C.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference has assembled a Return to Competition Task Force consisting of members from the COP/C, sports medicine and university medical personnel, Athletic Directors, Head Coaches, Faculty Athletic Representatives and Senior Women Administrators to plan for the return of fall sports competition as soon as possible. In evaluating winter/spring models, we will explore many factors including the number of football games that can reasonably be played from a health perspective in a full calendar year while maintaining a premier competitive experience for our student-athletes culminating in a Big Ten Championship. The Big Ten Conference will continue to collect feedback from student-athletes, families, and other constituents and remains in active discussions with its television partners regarding all future plans.

We have tremendous appreciation and understanding regarding what participation in sports means to our student-athletes, their families, our campus communities and our fans. We will continue to make the best decisions possible for the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes. We appreciate the passion of the Big Ten community and will harness that energy towards providing the best possible experience for all Big Ten student-athletes.


Kevin Warren
Commissioner
Big Ten Conference
Political correctness at its best!!!! How did this guy get this job?????
 
Same family as the common cold. Have we found a cure for the common cold? Hell no. It could be a hundred years from now, if ever. We aren't finding a vaccine any time soon.
Ebola is a virus, too. Not exactly narrowing it down.

Oh, and we do have a vaccine for Ebola now.
 
Time for teams that want to play to band together and and announce we play or withdraw from the BIG and form our own conference. I bet Warren would reconsider it then. As it stands he's cost these universities more than a billion dollars in revenue and cost the players a chance to decide for themselves which could have a negative result on their future.

The draft eligible players should also file a lawsuit against the conference seeking potential lost revenue.

Not only that, sports programs will be cut.
 
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.

The vote? LOL

The vote was 1-0; Mr Warren was the only one who voted. Lets not kid ourselves.

What about the feedback from lawyers? From what I have seen, the threat of future lawsuits is what tipped the scales.

So, Mr Warren will not revisit his 1-0 decision. I am sure this will go over well.
 
An Open Letter to the Big Ten Community

[Open Letter PDF]

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.

As you are well aware, we are facing a complicated global pandemic with the SARS-CoV-2 virus discovered in November 2019. The first medically confirmed cases did not appear in the United States until January 2020. Over the course of the past seven months, the U.S. has recorded more than 5.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in more than 170,000 deaths, with more than 22 million confirmed cases and 780,000 lives lost around the world.

We understand the disappointment and questions surrounding the timing of our decision to postpone fall sports, especially in light of releasing a football schedule only six days prior to that decision. From the beginning, we consistently communicated our commitment to cautiously proceed one day at a time with the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes at the center of our decision-making process. That is why we took simultaneous paths in releasing the football schedule, while also diligently monitoring the spread of the virus, testing, and medical concerns as student-athletes were transitioning to full-contact practice.

While several factors contributed to the decision to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season, at the core of our decision was the knowledge that there was too much medical uncertainty and too many unknown health risks regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection and its impact on our student-athletes.

Listed below are the primary factors that led to the Big Ten COP/C decision:
  • Transmission rates continue to rise at an alarming rate with little indication from medical experts that our campuses, communities or country could gain control of the spread of the virus prior to the start of competition.
    • As our teams were ramping up for more intense practices, many of our medical staffs did not think the interventions we had planned would be adequate to decrease the potential spread even with very regular testing.
    • As the general student body comes back to campus, spread to student-athletes could reintroduce infection into our athletics community.
  • There is simply too much we do not know about the virus, recovery from infection, and longer-term effects. While the data on cardiomyopathy is preliminary and incomplete, the uncertain risk was unacceptable at this time.
  • Concerns surrounding contact tracing still exist, including the inability to social distance in contact sports pursuant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. While risk mitigation processes (e.g., physical distancing, face coverings, proper hygiene, etc.) can be implemented across campus for the student body population, it became clear those processes could not be fully implemented in contact sports.
    • With the start of full-contact practices and competitions, it became increasingly clear that contact tracing and quarantining would risk frequent and significant disruptions to the practice and competition calendar.
    • Accurate and widely available rapid testing may help mitigate those concerns, but access to accurate tests is currently limited.
    • Significant concerns also exist regarding the testing supply chain, generally, for many of our institutions.
Financial considerations did not influence the COP/C decision, as the postponement will have enormous adverse financial implications. We understand the passion of the many student-athletes and their families who were disappointed by the decision, but also know there are many who have a great deal of concern and anxiety regarding the pandemic.

Moving forward, we will continue to build upon the framework that our medical experts have developed over the past five months while we take the opportunity to learn more about the virus and its effects. As we expand upon a plan to allow our student-athletes to compete as soon as it is safe to do so, we will keep our focus on creating protocols and standards set forth and established by our medical advisors that are responsive to the medical concerns evaluated by our COP/C.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference has assembled a Return to Competition Task Force consisting of members from the COP/C, sports medicine and university medical personnel, Athletic Directors, Head Coaches, Faculty Athletic Representatives and Senior Women Administrators to plan for the return of fall sports competition as soon as possible. In evaluating winter/spring models, we will explore many factors including the number of football games that can reasonably be played from a health perspective in a full calendar year while maintaining a premier competitive experience for our student-athletes culminating in a Big Ten Championship. The Big Ten Conference will continue to collect feedback from student-athletes, families, and other constituents and remains in active discussions with its television partners regarding all future plans.

We have tremendous appreciation and understanding regarding what participation in sports means to our student-athletes, their families, our campus communities and our fans. We will continue to make the best decisions possible for the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes. We appreciate the passion of the Big Ten community and will harness that energy towards providing the best possible experience for all Big Ten student-athletes.


Kevin Warren
Commissioner
Big Ten Conference

I want to punch him in the face. The south leads the US in COVID-19 hot spots, but his son is apparently safer playing there than all of the athletes who want to play in Big 10 country.
 
I want to punch him in the face. The south leads the US in COVID-19 hot spots, but his son is apparently safer playing there than all of the athletes who want to play in Big 10 country.
Just a lot of untruths (there was no vote; he says there was) and hypocrisy (safe for his son, not for the B1G) in his "open" letter.

This "open" letter has caused more damage to his already weakened credibility.

It was a nice run for Mr Warren. Time for him to go.
 
Just a lot of untruths (there was no vote; he says there was) and hypocrisy (safe for his son, not for the B1G) in his "open" letter.

This "open" letter has caused more damage to his already weakened credibility.

It was a nice run for Mr Warren. Time for him to go.

Out of curiosity . . . name a single B1G President/Chancellor who has said "there was no vote" or "I wasn't give the opportunity to vote."

Here's the bottom line. The decision to cancel Fall sports in the B1G was not Kevin Warren's decision. He does not possess that power. That power was in the hands of 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors. And here's a harsh truth . . . not a single one of the 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors have possessed the intestinal fortitude to come forward to confirm/deny how he/she voted, why he/she voted in such fashion and what factors influenced his/her decision. They've allowed certain of their ADs to make misleading statements and insinuating that they were taking action that stands in contrast to what is contained in the B1G By-Laws.

When I read the first part of Warren's open letter, I had one thought. It is a "f--k you" to all of the B1G Presidents / Chancellors who have hung him out to dry, to allow rumors to fester and to avoid taking responsibility for the decision made by the Presidents / Chancellors as a whole.

Make no mistake, Warren still has egg on his face. This statement should have accompanied the decision announcement. Handled poorly overall and some responsibility falls on his shoulders. But he's taking all of the heat for a decision that he couldn't make unilaterally.
 



too bad thousands of Big 10 athletes and their families don't get to make the same decision Kevin.
Exactly!

How about letting Warren and his collection of incompetent leaders taste a class-action lawsuit from every player for lost opportunity, lost wages from lower draft positions if drafted at all. Put the BIG into damn bankruptcy! They deserve it after this shit show!
 
It’s hard for me to see how most of this letter is consistent with their claim that the season is just postponed, not cancelled.

We are worried about potential long term effects from the virus. But don’t worry, in January we won’t be!

Yes much about this doesn't pass the smell test. The Big 10 didn't have any intention of playing this fall, and they have very little intention of playing in January or any time in the spring. The precedent has been set that any cases at all are enough to shut down football. The letter was a lot of words that didn't say anything at all. Big 10 still isn't articulating the reasons they are cancelling, other than uncertainty and they don't want to.

I did notice in the interview that Warren did today with the Business Journal that he changed his background for video meetings from the Kevin Warren Hall of Fame to stuff more generally Big 10. Someone must have told him that looked pretty bad to have your own wall of honor behind you when doing video calls.
 
Out of curiosity . . . name a single B1G President/Chancellor who has said "there was no vote" or "I wasn't give the opportunity to vote."

Here's the bottom line. The decision to cancel Fall sports in the B1G was not Kevin Warren's decision. He does not possess that power. That power was in the hands of 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors. And here's a harsh truth . . . not a single one of the 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors have possessed the intestinal fortitude to come forward to confirm/deny how he/she voted, why he/she voted in such fashion and what factors influenced his/her decision. They've allowed certain of their ADs to make misleading statements and insinuating that they were taking action that stands in contrast to what is contained in the B1G By-Laws.

When I read the first part of Warren's open letter, I had one thought. It is a "f--k you" to all of the B1G Presidents / Chancellors who have hung him out to dry, to allow rumors to fester and to avoid taking responsibility for the decision made by the Presidents / Chancellors as a whole.

Make no mistake, Warren still has egg on his face. This statement should have accompanied the decision announcement. Handled poorly overall and some responsibility falls on his shoulders. But he's taking all of the heat for a decision that he couldn't make unilaterally.

Just because Warren didn't vote didn't mean he didn't have a say lot alone a large say in it. Like Goodell in the NFL he is the most powerful man in the conference/league he never cast a vote among the owners. You are naive if you don't think he was not working behind the scenes to make sure Fall Football didn't happen, as he openly has said he's for spring ball. His agenda was one sided as well as the data he provided to the Presidents.

Say what you want about Delaney when he wanted something he got things to go his way during his tenure without casting one single vote as well. If Warren wanted Fall ball I guarantee the Big 10 would be playing this Fall. End of the day he is a hypocritical, incompetent, weak leader.
 
Just a lot of untruths (there was no vote; he says there was) and hypocrisy (safe for his son, not for the B1G) in his "open" letter.

This "open" letter has caused more damage to his already weakened credibility.

It was a nice run for Mr Warren. Time for him to go.
Then hope the other conferences have successful fall seasons. It will be awesome to see him explain the 10's of millions he we lose for each team.
 
Out of curiosity . . . name a single B1G President/Chancellor who has said "there was no vote" or "I wasn't give the opportunity to vote."

Here's the bottom line. The decision to cancel Fall sports in the B1G was not Kevin Warren's decision. He does not possess that power. That power was in the hands of 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors. And here's a harsh truth . . . not a single one of the 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors have possessed the intestinal fortitude to come forward to confirm/deny how he/she voted, why he/she voted in such fashion and what factors influenced his/her decision. They've allowed certain of their ADs to make misleading statements and insinuating that they were taking action that stands in contrast to what is contained in the B1G By-Laws.

When I read the first part of Warren's open letter, I had one thought. It is a "f--k you" to all of the B1G Presidents / Chancellors who have hung him out to dry, to allow rumors to fester and to avoid taking responsibility for the decision made by the Presidents / Chancellors as a whole.

Make no mistake, Warren still has egg on his face. This statement should have accompanied the decision announcement. Handled poorly overall and some responsibility falls on his shoulders. But he's taking all of the heat for a decision that he couldn't make unilaterally.

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN contacted the B1G Presidents and Chancellors and NONE of them would comment on (1) if there was a vote and (2) if there was a vote, how did they vote.

Here's the bottom line. You state that the decision to cancel Fall sports in the B1G was not Kevin Warren's decision. You don't know that. None of us do. And that's why news outlets will be making FOIA to find out exactly how this decision came to be.
 
I think part of the problem with fighting to play in the fall is a number of the schools that voted no have little incentive to play. For instance I was just reading on twitter about how Michigan State was worried because they changed coaching staffs and then had no spring practice. So for them playing in January is probably better because they have more time to get ready. Most of the other schools in the ‘No’ camp are not good programs generally so what does it matter to Rutgers and Illinois if they play in January vs September.

Personally I think they have every intention of canceling the January season just like they did the September season so I think this is a terrible idea. And if the Indiana’s and Maryland’s of the Conference felt like they could contend for the conference championship I wonder how different their attitudes would be. Right now they seem as ambivalent as I was during the Lickliter years. If they would have wanted to postpone Lickliter’s last season I wouldn’t have put up a very spirited opposition either.
 
From a story from ESPN:

Randy Wade, father of Ohio State star defensive back Shaun Wade, said he's not satisfied with Warren's letter and still plans to protest peacefully Friday outside Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois. "It's going down now," Wade said. "I had one poster made. I'm going to have two now."

Randy Wade said he takes issue with the fact that Warren's son is going to play for Mississippi State while his son is sidelined at Ohio State. And Wade says he realizes his protest might be for naught.

Warren won't be at the office on Friday, telling ESPN the conference office has been closed because of the pandemic, with employees working remotely.

"I'm sure at the appropriate time in the appropriate setting, we'll have an opportunity to meet," Warren said.
 
I've said from the get go that this new BIG commish screwed this up royally. I couldn't believe his initial action saying only conference games would be played. How is that safer then all games? Then releasing a schedule and a few days later with nothing new happening in the interim, canceling the season. This appears to be the most feckless incompetent leadership in the country.
 
Where did they get this clown and why does he still have a job? I like the end; we are going to form a Task Force. Yes that will solve all of the problems, this tool used so much corporate-speak that he made Barta sound like Robin Williams. ****ing lawyers.

Dewey, Cheatum and Howe, LLC
 
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I've said from the get go that this new BIG commish screwed this up royally. I couldn't believe his initial action saying only conference games would be played. How is that safer then all games? Then releasing a schedule and a few days later with nothing new happening in the interim, canceling the season. This appears to be the most feckless incompetent leadership in the country.

Conference only football decision was driven by the anticipated need for scheduling flexibility.
 
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The vote? LOL

The vote was 1-0; Mr Warren was the only one who voted. Lets not kid ourselves.

What about the feedback from lawyers? From what I have seen, the threat of future lawsuits is what tipped the scales.

So, Mr Warren will not revisit his 1-0 decision. I am sure this will go over well.

Here's the bottom line. You state that the decision to cancel Fall sports in the B1G was not Kevin Warren's decision. You don't know that. None of us do. And that's why news outlets will be making FOIA to find out exactly how this decision came to be.
haha
One minute you are certain, the next minute you are not.
a lot of dumbf*ckery has been unleashed
 
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Out of curiosity . . . name a single B1G President/Chancellor who has said "there was no vote" or "I wasn't give the opportunity to vote."

Here's the bottom line. The decision to cancel Fall sports in the B1G was not Kevin Warren's decision. He does not possess that power. That power was in the hands of 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors. And here's a harsh truth . . . not a single one of the 14 B1G Presidents / Chancellors have possessed the intestinal fortitude to come forward to confirm/deny how he/she voted, why he/she voted in such fashion and what factors influenced his/her decision. They've allowed certain of their ADs to make misleading statements and insinuating that they were taking action that stands in contrast to what is contained in the B1G By-Laws.

When I read the first part of Warren's open letter, I had one thought. It is a "f--k you" to all of the B1G Presidents / Chancellors who have hung him out to dry, to allow rumors to fester and to avoid taking responsibility for the decision made by the Presidents / Chancellors as a whole.

Make no mistake, Warren still has egg on his face. This statement should have accompanied the decision announcement. Handled poorly overall and some responsibility falls on his shoulders. But he's taking all of the heat for a decision that he couldn't make unilaterally.

Funny part is the FOIA request will get to the bottom of what happened. They may as well fess up now.
 
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