Gov. DeSantis Says Other States’ College Football Can Come to Florida — Just After RNC’s Jacksonville Collapse

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has invited college football teams from around the country to come to his state if their games elsewhere are canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

During a Tuesday press conference with Florida State University President John Thrasher and head coach Mike Norvell, DeSantis said, “I asked President Thrasher and Coach about, ‘Hey if some of these other conferences shut down, can we welcome their players to the state of Florida?’ I’m not exactly sure how the NCAA rules work on that, but I can tell you, if there’s a way, we want you guys to be able to play as well.”

The comments came just weeks after Republicans canceled their 2020 national convention, which the party had scheduled to take place in Jacksonville after initially planning to hold it in North Carolina. President Donald Trump called the convention off last month as coronavirus infections surged in Florida, telling reporters the timing was “not right.”

The Big Ten on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the 2020 college football season with tentative hopes to reschedule for spring 2021. The decision will sideline teams including those in Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin. The conference said in a statement the decision “was based on multiple factors,” and that it had “relied on medical advice and counsel of the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee.”

Trump said in a morning interview with Fox Sports’ Clay Travis that he believed college football should move forward, arguing that players were unlikely to suffer hard-hitting complications if they contracted the coronavirus. “These people are so powerful and so strong and not lots of body fat,” Trump said. “They’re very healthy people.”

Watch above via PBS.