President Donald Trump said he spoke to officials with the Big Ten conference on Tuesday about a plan for opening its 2020 football season on schedule.
Trump said he spoke with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren on Tuesday morning, and tweeted that a plan was "at the one yard line."
The Big Ten has not commented publicly on Trump's statement.
Later, Trump told reporters that he believed "Democrats" would be the biggest hurdle in getting the season started — though it's unclear which Democrats Trump was referring to, or how they would be able to shut down football games across several states.
On Aug. 11, the Big Ten announced it was "postponing" all 2020 fall sports, including football, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its announcement, the league said it was exploring the possibility of all fall sports resuming play in the spring of 2021.
Trump claims the "biggest headwind" preventing Big Ten football from happening this fall is "Democrats" -- not the coronavirus pandemic pic.twitter.com/R5z0H9AbiX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020
However, in recent days, reports have indicated that the conference is exploring the possibility of starting its season by late November or January.
The Pac-12 conference is the only other "Power 5" conference that does not intend to play college football in the fall of 2020. The ACC, Big 12 and SEC will open their seasons in the coming weeks — though some conferences are limiting the number of non-conference games each team can play.
