College Football
The Big 12 Conference is planning to play football this season. The league says the Board of Directors agreed last night to go ahead with the fall sports season even as other conferences aren’t. Those involved in fall sports including football will undergo three coronavirus tests a week.
The conference is adopting a nine-plus-one schedule for football where all but one game would feature matchups against fellow Big 12 teams. All non-conference games must finish before September 26th because that’s when conference play begins. Each school would determine if fans are allowed to attend and how many would be able to do so.
The Big South postponed fall conference competition today because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, but said its football programs can decide individually whether they will play up to four non-conference games. The Big South became the 10th of 13 FCS conferences to shift its potential conference schedule to the spring semester.
MLB
Major League Baseball has handed down discipline to the instigators of the brawl between Houston and Oakland on Sunday, giving Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron a 20-game suspension and a fine, while A’s outfielder Ramon Laureano was given a six-game suspension and a fine. Cintron’s suspension is the longest for an on-field incident in baseball since 1995.
NFL
Fans of the Washington Football Team will not be allowed to watch games in person this season. The team made the announcement today and it cited the ever-changing situation with the coronavirus pandemic. However, the team did leave open the possibility that fans could be allowed inside FedEx Field should the fight against the virus get better. The Washington Football Team becomes the second NFC East team to announce games will not be played in front of fans should the NFL season go on as scheduled. The New York Giants will be dealing with that same reality.
NASCAR
Corporate interest in Bubba Wallace has picked up momentum and NASCAR’s only Black full-time driver has signed a new sponsor that includes funding for his Richard Petty Motorsports team. Columbia Sportswear today announced a multiyear sponsorship with Wallace as a brand ambassador that will also put the company on the No. 43 at Dover later this month and one to two other races not yet announced.