The Pac-12 announced Tuesday it will postpone all fall sports until January at the earliest. The decision comes exactly five months from when the Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team played its final game of the season at the Pac-12 Tournament in March.
Here’s a timeline of important dates between March and Tuesday:
March 10
Immediately following Arizona’s win over Washington in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the conference announces fans would no longer be able to attend future games. The NCAA also declares March Madness wouldn’t have fans in attendance. Later on, the NBA suspends the season indefinitely after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert becomes the first player to test positive for the coronavirus; MLB and MLS followed suit at a later date.
March 11
Conference tournaments across college basketball simultaneously shut down due to COVID-19, which eventually leads to the cancelation of the NCAA Tournament and spring sports. Student-athletes of spring sports are able to preserve another year of eligibility.
July 10
The Pac-12 follows the Big Ten’s lead and removes nonconference opponents from its fall sports schedule. UA was initially scheduled to open up the season against Hawaii at Arizona Stadium on Aug. 29, followed by Portland State and Texas Tech in Lubbock.
July 31
The Pac-12 releases a 10-game conference-only schedule with a Sept. 26 kickoff date. Arizona was slated to face rival Arizona State for the Territorial Cup in the season opener, while USC-UCLA would be the other rivalry game that week since Arizona and Southern California are considered COVID-19 hotspots. If teams were unable to play season openers, the games would have either been moved to a bye week or a league-wide open date on Dec. 12.
Aug. 7
Citing non-uniform testing around the league, among a few other issues, Pac-12 student-athletes create the “#WeAreUnited” movement, requesting player-approved COVID-19 protocols and a 50% share of the conference’s revenue. Players, including Arizona quarterback Grant Gunnell, pushed the “#WeWantToPlay” movement to put pressure on conferences to play college football in the fall.
Aug. 8
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) becomes the first FBS conference to cancel the fall sports season; the Mountain West follows suit.
Aug. 11
The Big Ten becomes the first Power 5 conference to pull the plug on the fall sports season. The Pac-12 CEO Group meets and unanimously votes for the conference to move all sports competition until 2021.
