Big Ten President: Donald Trump Not Involved in Conference Football Return
The Big Ten will play football this fall, as the conference voted to begin its season on October 24. Immediately, Donald Trump jumped on Twitter to proclaim it was his "honor" to have helped the process. But according to one Big Ten president, Trump had nothing to do with the decision to resume play.
NBC News' Peter Alexander spoke to a Big Ten president involved in the decision to resume football, and was told Trump was not involved and may have actually harmed the process because no one wanted it to be political:
A Big Ten president involved in the decision to resume the season tells @NBCNews, “President Trump had nothing to do with our decision and did not impact the deliberations. In fact, when his name came up, it was a negative because no one wanted this to be political.” https://t.co/pEQf7yT4xl
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) September 16, 2020
According to virtually every report, the development of rapid COVID-19 testing was the biggest factor in the conference's return. Players will now be tested daily and will be able to get results quickly. They will also be screened for myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that can result from COVID-19.
In the end, it's pretty clear the changes in health and safety protocols were the big change here, not any outside influence.