Trump speaks with Big Ten commissioner, pushes conference to play football this fall

President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he spoke with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren "about immediately starting up Big Ten football." The Big Ten postponed the 2020 football season in August, becoming the first major conference to decide against playing this fall because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Pac-12 followed suit soon after, while the SEC, ACC and Big 12 plan to begin play this month.

Trump called the conversation "productive" and added: "Would be good (great!) for everyone - Players, Fans, Country. On the one yard line!"

The Big Ten Conference said in a statement that a White House representative reached out to Warren on Monday to facilitate a call with Trump. The statement described Tuesday's call a "productive conversation."

"The Big Ten Conference and its Return to Competition Task Force, on behalf of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C), are exhausting every resource to help student-athletes get back to playing the sports they love, at the appropriate time, in the safest and healthiest way possible," the Big Ten's statement said.

The decision to cancel the fall season was not made unilaterally by Warren. The presidents and chancellors from each Big Ten university voted on the decision. According to multiple reports, those university leaders voted 11-3 to postpone fall sports.

The Big Ten's 14 schools are located in 11 states - Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The absence of a fall season is a devastating blow to some local business that rely on game-day revenue.

"It's a great conference, tremendous teams," Trump said of the Big Ten on Fox News Tuesday morning, ahead of his trip to Kenosha, Wis., the site of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. "And we're pushing very hard. I think the biggest head wind we have is that you have Democrats that don't want to see it happen. But I think they want to play. And the fans want to see it, and the players have a lot at stake, including possibly playing in the NFL. You have a lot of great players in that conference."

"So we had a very good conversation, very productive," Trump continued. "And maybe we'll be very nicely surprised. They had it closed up. And I think they'd like to see it open, along with a lot of other football that's being played right now."

Trump has not specifically mentioned the Pac-12 or any other conference that opted to postpone fall sports. The NCAA canceled Division I championship events for all fall sports apart from the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision, which the NCAA does not govern.

The Big Ten hopes to hold a football season that could begin in the winter. The NCAA's Board of Directors recently approved the Division I Council's recommendation that all fall-sport athletes, regardless of how many games they play this academic year, receive an additional season of eligibility.

Following the Big Ten's decision to postpone the football season, parents at multiple schools have pushed back and criticized the conference. Ohio State star quarterback Justin Fields urged the conference to reverse its decision with a petition that received more than 300,000 signatures.

Eight Nebraska football players filed a lawsuit against the Big Ten last week, arguing that the postponement hurt the players' ability to market themselves and their future professional opportunities. In a statement, the conference said, "This lawsuit has no merit and we will defend the decision to protect all student-athletes as we navigate through this global pandemic."

Before the Big Ten and Pac-12 punted on fall football, players from the Power Five conferences released a unified statement that expressed their desire to play this season. That effort was led by some of college football's best players, including Fields, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard.

Trump supported that movement and tweeted: "The student-athletes have been working too hard for their season to be canceled. #WeWantToPlay."