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Football Badgers getting ready for Michigan

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The Wisconsin football team is inching closer to a return to Big Ten action against the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday.  The Badgers began their regular game week preparations Monday morning.  The team will practice each day this week and continue to monitor the program’s COVID-19 testing results closely to determine the team’s activities moving forward.

The football program currently has five active COVID-19 cases, two student-athletes and three staff members.  Since Nov. 2, one staff member and one student-athlete have bested positive.  Five of the last six days have yielded no positive cases.

“We had no new positives on Tuesday and Wednesday which was a great sign,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said.  “That’s when we started thinking Friday could be a day we could get the team together to start doing things with an eye towards having a regular practice week.  So we were cautious on Friday and Saturday, split guys into groups, and just did conditioning.  The team then got together and held its regular Monday practice this morning.

“We feel confident that we have a handle on the situation and are excited to play this week at Michigan.  As we have done throughout, we will continue to monitor our testing results and base our decision on those results.”

The Badger football team first paused team activities on Oct. 28 and saw games at Nebraska (Oct. 31) and at home against Purdue (Nov. 7) canceled.

Badgers cancel Saturday’s game against Purdue

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Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez

The University of Wisconsin announced that Saturday’s home game against Purdue has been cancelled and team-related activities remain paused indefinitely.

“I share in the disappointment of our student-athletes and staff,” athletic director Barry Alvarez said.  “We have seen a level of improvement in our testing numbers, but not enough to give us confidence to resume normal activities and play our game on Saturday.  We will continue to test regularly, take the proper health-related precautions and look forward to getting our team back on the field as soon as possible.”

Five more members of the program (two staff and three student-athletes) have tested positive for COVID-19 since last Saturday.  Over the last seven days (Oct. 27-Nov. 2), student-athletes (10) and staff(11) have registered a total of 21 positive tests.  There are currently 27 active cases in the program, all since Saturday, Oct. 24.  That includes 15 football student athletes and 12 staff members.

The Badger football team first paused team activities on Oct. 28 and its rescheduled game at Nebraska on Oct. 31 was cancelled.

Wisconsin Athletics plans to provide another update on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Three more added to Wisconsin football COVID-19 list

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The Wisconsin football program has confirmed more positive PCR tests for COVID-19.

The Wisconsin Athletic Department released the additional numbers Thursday afternoon.  One positive result was received late Wednesday, while two others were confirmed on Thursday morning.  All three were the pending results referenced in Wednesday morning’s initial announcement.  There are currently 16 active COVID-19 cases in the program, including 15 positive tests since Oct. 24.

The program was placed in a seven day hold and while there is no definitive timeline for a return to in-person football activities, the earliest return is Wednesday, Nov. 4.  A return to activity depends upon the success of ongoing mitigation efforts.  Head coach Paul Chryst, per CDC and Big Ten guidelines, can return to the team in person following a 10-day isolation period, on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the earliest.  That is the day of the Badgers next scheduled game, at home against Purdue.

Wisconsin Athletics has secured rooms at a local hotel for football players that have not recorded positive tests in an effort to further separate those who live together and mitigate the spread of the virus.  Each of the players in the hotel has his own room and the rooms are located in the same area of the hotel so as to limit exposure to other hotel guests.

Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, who referenced taking a PCR test on Wednesday, received his results Thursday and tested negative for COVID-19.

Members of the football program continue to take part in daily testing.

Big Ten set to return to football

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Camp Randall Stadium (Photo by David Stluka)

The Big Ten Conference is going to have football after all.

Less than five weeks after pushing fall sports into the spring with player safety concerns in the middle of a pandemic, the conference changed its mind with University Presidents and Chancellors voting unanimously to open its football season the weekend of Oct. 23-24.

All 14 teams will play eight games over eight weeks before Big Ten Championship weekend December 19th.  At that time, the first place team in the West will play the first place team in the East for the Big Ten title.  The second place teams will face each other, the third place teams will square off and so on, giving each team a ninth game.  The new schedule is expected to be released by the end of the week.

The emergence of daily rapid-response testing that wasn’t available last month helped trigger the re-vote, as did recent [Read more…]

Big Ten expected to vote today on return to action in October (AUDIO)

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The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted 11-3 last month to shut down all Big Ten fall sports because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

According to CNN, the league’s presidents and chancellors are expected to vote Monday on whether its football teams can play a shortened season.

Reliable, rapid testing is reportedly what changed many schools’ minds.  Leaders of the member universities met over the weekend to discuss health and safety.

If the conference does decide to play, teams could hit the field by October 17, which is several weeks later than the other conferences.  Those other conferences are slated to play at least 10 games, while the Big Ten would only play eight, plus a [Read more…]

Wisconsin football and hockey hitting the pause button

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Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez

In a statement from UW athletic director Barry Alvarez, the Wisconsin football and men’s hockey teams are taking a two-week pause as the campus deals with COVID-19 issues.

“We have been conducting our own COVID-19 testing of student athletes and staff on a regular basis since early June and will continue to do so,” Alvarez said in the statement.  “Since we began testing in Athletics, our decision-making has been guided by our own test results.  That continues to be our plan going forward.

“I can also confirm that our football and men’s hockey teams will take a two-week break from team activities per our COVID-19 testing protocols.”

The athletic department is not releasing COVID-19 test results broken down by team or date of tests.  But according to the Wisconsin State Journal, football and men’s hockey are the only two sports pausing activities due to test results. [Read more…]

Big Ten moving fall sports to the second semester of 2020-21 (AUDIO)

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Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez

The Big Ten Conference pulled the plug on the fall sports season on Tuesday, making the decision to move football and all other fall sports to the second semester due to ongoing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said they just believe collectively there is too much uncertainty at this point in time in our country to really encourage student-athletes to participate in fall sports.

“One of the things we promised ourselves was that this was going to be a fluid situation, a day-to-day situation,” Warren said.  “And we would be in a perpetual state of observing, gathering information and we could do everything we possibly could to have fall sports.

“And I’ve said it from the first day that I started at the Big Ten, that the health and wellness, both physical and mental, of our student-athletes was going to be at the top of my list.”

The Big Ten wasn’t alone in making such a move.  The Pac-12 postponed fall sports through the end of the year. [Read more…]

Camp Randall renovation put on hold

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Camp Randall Stadium (Photo by David Stluka)

Renovation of the south end zone seating area inside Camp Randall Stadium is being put on hold temporarily.

The project was due to begin at the conclusion of the 2020 football season and open by the start of the 2021 campaign.  It is now more likely that work will begin sometime in 2021 with a target opening for the 2022 campaign.

“We are obviously operating in a time of great uncertainty,” said Wisconsin Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez.  “Given our construction timeline and the timing around when decisions had to be made, we felt it was best to be prudent and delay the project for a bit.  I have been thrilled with how strong sales have been thus far and I want to thank those who have already committed to purchasing seating in the new south end zone, leading to over 75 percent of loge box inventory being committed to date.  Once finished, this will be a transformative project for Camp Randall.”

Known as the CR Future project, the renovation will allow for a more interactive and engaging fan experience through enhanced seating options, including loge boxes and club seats, access to indoor and outdoor hospitality clubs, climate-controlled amenities, expanded premium food and beverage offerings and best-in-class service and operations.

 

UW making a statement with uniform logo

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Wisconsin student-athletes will be showing their solidarity with Black and other underrepresented communities on campus when Badger sports teams return to action.

UW Athletics uniforms will include a university crest logo with a black “W,” a show of support, inclusion and unity from Badger student-athletes, the UW Athletic Department and UW-Madison as a whole.

“I have previously stated my commitment to taking meaningful steps involving issues of diversity and inclusion in our athletic department,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said.  “There is plenty of work to do, but I am pleased we will be able to show our support in a way that is important to our student-athletes.”

Earlier this summer a number of current and former Badger student-athletes publicly stated their desire to wear the university’s “Crest W” on their athletic uniforms.  The “W” in the crest is white, but will be changed to black on Badger athletics uniforms.  UW Athletics officials worked with student-athletes to also include a black Motion W that will also have a presence on select athletic apparel.

 

Wisconsin not allowing senior spring-sport athletes an extra year of eligibility (AUDIO)

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Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez

The University of Wisconsin will not be allowing senior spring-sport athletes an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 closing down their seasons early.

On his monthly radio show Wednesday night on the Badger Sports Network at Learfield IMG College, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said the NCAA overreacted in restoring a year of eligibility to spring sports students amid the coronavirus-related shutdown.

The university issued a statement on Thursday afternoon and it said, “The NCAA Division I Council’s vote last month to allow institutions to provide an additional season of competition and extend the period of eligibility for spring-sport student-athletes comes at a time of unprecedented uncertainty in college athletics.  UW Athletics places tremendous emphasis on its student-athletes earning an undergraduate degree and having a great competitive experience.  In the case of the UW spring student-athletes to which the NCAA’s waiver would apply, a substantial percentage of the student-athletes are scheduled to earn their degrees before next spring.  In spite of today’s [Read more…]