Report: Pac-12 has postponed the fall football season

Reports are circulating about the Pac-12's imminent decision to postpone the fall football season.

The dominoes have been falling. 

The Big Ten became the first Power 5 conference to cancel its fall football season with plans to play in the spring. 

And the Pac-12 has now decided to follow suit. 

Brett McMurphy of Stadium was the first to report. It was confirmed by Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger. 

Pac-12 has canceled fall football season, source told @Stadium. “We’re done,” source said. Official announcement at 4:30 p.m. ET

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 11, 2020

BREAKING: Pac-12 is canceling its 2020 fall football season, source tells @SINow. Like the Big Ten, it plans to play in the spring. @Brett_McMurphy first.

All eyes now on the next domino, which could bring them all down: the Big 12.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 11, 2020

This is similar to playing the conference-only schedules which seemed to be the first step. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 were the first Power 5 conferences to go to conference-only schedules. And the other conferences went to a modified version. 

There are multiple reasons why there will not be a college football season in the fall for the Pac-12. 

At the forefront, is money, responsibility and liability. 

Schools will miss out on an opportunity to earn massive revenue through television deals and ticket sales by not having a season. 

Most schools have already started to cut costs by having furloughs, salary cuts and removing sports from the budget. 

The Pac-12 has already discussed the possibility of taking out a loan for each program in order to offset the loss of profits. 

Then comes the responsibility aspect of it. Are they able to provide all of the necessary precautions in order to keep their athletes as safe as possible? 

There was an article in Sports Business Daily with a Duke doctor who is advising the conference explaining why he thinks they can have college sports and still keep the athletes safe, "Can we safely have two teams meet on the field? I would say yes. Will it be tough? Yes. Will it be expensive and hard and lots of work? For sure. But I do believe you can sufficiently mitigate the risk of bringing COVID onto the football field or into the training room at a level that’s no different than living as a student on campus."

It is possible to have college sports but it will be expensive, hard and lots of hard work. And college sports administrators aren't ready to tackle that challenge. 

And then the liability, which may be the most important one. Schools do not want to be held liable if one of the athletes has a serious health scare due to playing sports and contracting the virus. 

BuffsCountry explained one of the cardiovascular problems that has become a side-effect for those that come down with the coronavirus. 

The NCAA has already said that waivers signed by the players so the schools cannot be held responsible will be void. 

The combination of those three things are why there will be no fall football season in the Pac-12.