On a Friday evening in early August, Kevin Warren logged in to a video call with medical officials from athletic departments around the Big Ten. By then, Warren had been the commissioner of the conference for eight months. Those months had not gone according to plan. He had come from the N.F.L., where his most recent job was chief operating officer for the Minnesota Vikings. The first African-American commissioner of a major college conference, he had almost no experience in college sports. He was regarded as an outsider, a perception he shared. To help overcome that, Warren had intended to hold a town-hall meeting on each of the 14 Big Ten campuses during his first year as commissioner.
Was the College Football Season Worth It?
