Report: Pac-12 Eyeing Halloween for Restart Date

A start date of Oct. 31 would be one week behind the Big Ten. The Pac-12 could also begin playing games on Nov. 7.

A day after the Big Ten announced its fall football season was back on, the Pac-12 is now looking to follow suit. The league is targeting Oct. 31 for its first week of games, according to Jon Wilner of The Mercury News.

The path toward a Halloween start date is pending approval from university presidents and an adjustment of local health restrictions. The Big Ten will play its first games the weekend of Oct. 24.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Per Wilner, the three primary hurdles to clear to make this date feasible are local health restrictions, approval from the CEOs and reaching consensus in regards to training camp schedules.

Pac-12 medical advisors have informed the league that players need six weeks to prepare for games—a two-week ramp-up period followed by four weeks of full-contact training camp. Some within the conference are discussing shortening that timeframe to five weeks, though Wilner reports six weeks is more likely.

A breakthrough in the Pac-12's path toward being able to play has been the availability of a daily antigen testing program, which have a much more rapid, same-day turnaround time. Teams will not be allowed to start full-contact practices until the daily antigen tests are made available, which will be at the end of September.

At the local level, the Los Angeles schools have been given clearance to practice, but the Bay Area schools have not.

With uncertainty still abound, Wilner still calls a potential start date of Oct. 31 or Nov. 7 "the most likely dates, by far," with the conference title game to be held on Dec. 19.