Michigan AD Warde Manuel responds to Big Ten’s cancelation of fall sports

Fall sports have been officially canceled for the Big Ten Conference in 2020 and now we have been given our first reaction from the Michigan end of things courtesy of athletic director Warde Manuel.

Here is the full statement released on Tuesday afternoon:

“For the second time in five months, the Big Ten Conference made the unfortunate but necessary decision to postpone an athletic season in order to protect the health and well-being of our student-athletes, staff, and community members. As a result, all fall sport schedules have been postponed. This latest decision was reached after careful consideration and the grim knowledge that this pandemic continues to affect our country adversely. I am deeply saddened for our student-athletes and remain committed to our ongoing promise to provide them with a world-class education. We remain grateful to our global Michigan family for their unwavering support.”

The Big Ten and Pac-12 both canceled the fall sports seasons on Tuesday and each will attempt a spring football season, or at least gauge the feasibility of it.

The release from Michigan also states that practices and workouts for all sports, including the winter and spring teams, have been suspended until further notice. The conference said in its release that it will evaluate and determine the steps forward for winter and spring sports at a later date.