The Big 12 has officially announced its policy when it comes to COVID-19 threshold policy on Tuesday, detailing the specifics for what it would take for a Big 12 team to have to forfeit a game this season.

Big 12 teams would be given a conference loss if they could not participate due to COVID-19 protocols.

“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.”

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby spoke about the possibility of teams having to forfeit games this season if they can’t keep a certain percentage of its roster out COVID-19 protocols at Big 12 media days July 14.

“Frankly, anyone not getting vaccinated is taking unnecessary and unwarranted risks,” Bowlsby said. “It’s shortsighted to not get vaccinated. If indeed the delta variant is as infectious as it is reported to be, not getting vaccinated is rolling the dice. As student athletes, you’re also rolling the dice on whether you’re going to participate.”

Even if a team forfeited a game, the two teams would technically still be deemed to have played the game for purposes of conference standings only.

“A forfeit can be declared at any point before a completed contest, and when possible would occur prior to the visiting team commencing travel,” the Big 12 said in its press release.

A ‘No Contest’ would be declared if both teams could not play and, if needed, an unbalanced tiebreaker would be utilized to determine Big 12 championship participants in football or championship seeding in other sports.

The announcement from the Big 12 stated Bowlsby retains discretion to declare a ‘No Contest’ if extraordinary circumstances warrant.