Kevin Warren: '2020 has been a Challenging Year'

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren was asked about the decision of postponing fall sports by Sports Business Journal

On Thursday, Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren spoke with Sports Business Journal about postponing the conference's fall sports.

When asked about the decision behind postponing fall sports, Warren referenced how difficult 2020 has been between dealing with COVID-19 and raising awareness for social injustice.

"2020 has been an absolute challenging year," Warren told John Ourand of SBJ. 

#BigTen Commissioner Kevin Warren gives some insight into his thought process behind the postponement of all fall sports, including #CFB, during our #SBJRoadAhead finale. pic.twitter.com/T4UlBCce4B

— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) August 19, 2020

Warren and the Big Ten have faced a lot of public backlash from their student-athletes, parents and fans about postponing the 2020 fall sports season to the spring. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields recently created a petition to reinstate the fall season in hopes the Big Ten changes their mind.

"It's an honor and blessing to be able to work in the Big Ten," Warren said. "We have 14 of the most prominent schools in all of the United States, not only academically, but also athletically. The last week has been very emotional for a lot of reasons. One, based upon the medical advice to postpone all of our fall sports, but especially our football season. There's a wide range of emotions associated with that - and that's really what makes the Big Ten, the Big Ten.

"We have very good teams. We have some of the best coaches in the country and some of the best athletic directors, presidents and chancellors. So anytime you make a decision ... you always want to keep in mind that you want to do what's right by our student-athletes."

Warren was not asked any of the questions that he addressed last week on Big Ten Network, when he was interviewed immediately after the league postponed the season. He did mention that the league was exploring both winter and spring options to play the postponed season. That seems to be in line with what Ohio State Coach Ryan Day said publicly last week and what Purdue coach Jeff Brohm had proposed late last week.

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