Athletics

Division I and college leaders are responding to pressure from players to prioritize their health during the coronavirus pandemic. Some leaders have decided that fall athletic competition isn't safe and canceled the season, while others are holding out hope they can still play this year.

Football players in the Pac-12 Conference are unconvinced by their institutions' coronavirus safety measures and are refusing to play until demands for safer health policies and racial justice are met.

Some colleges with established sports programs are using the play restrictions required by the pandemic as an opportunity to explore the potential profitability of esports competitions.

Six athletic conferences cancel or postpone fall seasons. Hillsdale College defies state attorney general. Citing quarantine order, Ithaca College tells some out-of-staters to start classes remotely.

Several more college conferences announce they won't play games this fall. Rhodes, Dickinson and Occidental Colleges reverse earlier decisions to bring some students back to campus.

More sports cancellations, outdoor classrooms at Rice and new doubts about capacities of college health centers and whether students will social distance.

Pac-12 will only play other conference members. NESCAC cancels fall athletics. Carleton and U of Bridgeport won't play sports this fall. Nor will California community colleges.

Conference is first Division I league to postpone its fall football season, which some believe could influence other institutions' plans.