The Pac-12 has canceled the fall football season, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports. The league is scheduled to make the announcement formal on Tuesday afternoon, continuing a day of seismic news in the sport.
The decision comes soon after the Big Ten announced that it was canceling its fall football season in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both leagues plan to attempt to play in the spring.
The Pac-12 decision was universally expected. The league has multiple teams that would have difficulty starting practice this week because of local government restrictions. The virus has been especially impactful in California and Arizona, which houses six of the 12 schools.
Of all the major conferences, the Pac-12 was viewed as the most likely to cancel the fall. The league was building sentiment toward this decision last week, but remained wary of being the first league to head in this direction. The Big Ten decision a little over an hour earlier gave them the company they needed to head to the sidelines.
The Pac-12 decision marks the fourth FBS conference to cancel college football this fall. Overall, 53 of the 130 programs in college football have canceled their seasons.