Big 12 COVID-19 forfeiture policy announced

The Big 12 Conference announced their 2021 COVID-19 game threshold and forfeiture policy Tuesday via official statement. It outlines how games will be handled this year if teams are unable to play due to not having enough eligible players.

Big 12 game threshold policy

The Big 12 Conference announced their policy for handling game forfeitures via an official statement on Tuesday.

“The Big 12 Conference has set its game threshold policy for the upcoming season.  In the event a Conference game is canceled due to a team not having enough student-athletes to compete (due to COVID-19 or for any reason), that team will forfeit and will be credited with a loss in the Conference standings. The opponent will be credited with a win in the Conference standings.  Both teams will be deemed to have played the game for purposes of Conference standings only,” the statement read. “A forfeit can be declared at any point before a completed contest, and when possible would occur prior to the visiting team commencing travel.  Additionally, if both teams are unable to compete, a No Contest would be declared and, if needed, an unbalanced tiebreaker would be utilized to determine Conference championship participants in football or championship seeding in other sports. The Commissioner retains discretion to declare a No Contest if extraordinary circumstances warrant.”

These guidelines vary slightly from the 2020 season guidelines provided by the conference. In 2020, if a team did not have enough eligible players for their game it would be re-scheduled for a later date or ruled “No Contest” instead of a loss.

“Teams falling below any of these benchmarks, based on game week test results, could still elect to play as scheduled if so desired,” stated the 2020 guidelines for the Big 12. “Otherwise, upon approval by the Commissioner, the game would be declared a no-contest if it cannot be moved to a later date.”

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby

Earlier this year during Big 12 Media Days, conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby spoke about the potential game threshold policies they would be implementing for the 2021 season. Bowlsby recounted that the conference’s schools were not happy to discuss his initial proposals for a Big 12 COVID-19 game forfeiture policy.

“When I introduced the topic of competition thresholds and testing protocols to the athletics directors, I don’t know that I’ve ever introduced a topic received less warmly,” Bowlsby said. “But with the Delta variant, we will have testing in some regard.”

Bowlsby stated that nearly 90% of contests scheduled in 2020 went on to be played and called their efforts a success. But the new regulations set by the Big 12 Conference may be poorly received as the financial impact of COVID-19 is still being felt by schools. Bowlsby speculated at the time that Big 12 schools would likely be suffering financially into the 2023 season.

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