Pac-12 announce 2020 football season to begin in November

It’s official: Football is coming to the Pac-12 in 2020.

The conference announced Thursday they have voted to allow football to play a seven-game conference season beginning on Nov. 6, reversing an earlier decision to cancel all NCAA sports through Jan. 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The release said men’s and women’s basketball will also begin play before the end of the year, on Nov. 25. Obviously, all three sports are of considerable interest to Stanford and Cardinal fans.

The Pac-12 were among the first conferences to cancel the fall sports season, but like the Big Ten, have backtracked and approved a modified season after seeing other conferences begin their seasons.

One note: In line with professional sports in the state of California, no fans will be permitted at games for the time being as a public health measure.

That means Stanford will play a modified football slate this season, and will get to be part of the 2020 NCAA season after all. As for health and safety, the plan is for the athletes involved in sports in season to be tested weekly. Will that be sufficient? Here’s hoping it will. At any rate, if you’re a college football fan, and even more, a Stanford fan, football will be back very soon.