Major college football conferences have largely reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic by ignoring it and staying on schedule. However, with fewer than three weeks until games, decision-makers are weighing canceling the season, per reports from Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

“I think it’s inevitable [the season will not be played in the fall],” an anonymous Power Five athletic director told CBS Sports.

The Big Ten became the first to cancel the season on Monday, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press.

In the few weeks since football players returned to campus, the Big Ten has faced multiple outbreaks. Michigan State placed the entire team under quarantine orders on July 24 because of positive tests. Later, Rutgers followed suit after a massive outbreak traced to a house party. 

The Pac-12 is also expected to make a decision on fall football soon. 

More meetings are scheduled this week across many FBS conferences, according to the Sports Illustrated report. The Pac-12 and Big 12 will have a meeting of presidents on Tuesday. Conference USA has a Wednesday call, while the Sun Belt and AAC will speak on Tuesday. 

These meetings come just weeks after the Power Five conferences hurriedly canceled most nonconference games and reformatted schedules. Despite pandemic shutdowns starting in March, no conference made any changes until July 31, nearly five months after the fact. 

Many of the top players in the sport – including Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields – have openly campaigned to play football in the fall. Many have circulated the hashtag #WeWantToPlay with a graphic asking for universal safety procedures, a required player opt-out and guaranteed eligibility, and the creation of a college football players association. 

Over the past few weeks, the vast majority of small college conferences have given up on fall football and moved to the spring. The NCAA canceled all Division II and Division III national championships for the entire 2020-21 school year.

The only sub-FBS conference in Texas that still plans to play a full slate of fall games is the Southland Conference. The NAIA Sooner Athletic Conference also has the option to play some fall games, but most will happen in the spring. 

The first domino in FBS football to drop was the Mid-American Conference, which announced plans to move to the spring over the weekend. Other Group of Five conferences have largely ignored making a decision, with high-paying nonconference games with Power Five leagues likely playing a major factor. The MAC typically schedules with the Big Ten, which has cancelled all nonconference games.