Many sports media figures and fans are criticizing the Big Ten for penalizing Northwestern’s women’s basketball team for not playing games at USC and UCLA in January, as wildfires ravaged the Los Angeles area. The conference announced Wednesday that Northwestern’s games against UCLA (Jan. 12) and USC (Jan. 15) will not be rescheduled, resulting in two losses for the Wildcats and a win for each of their opponents, per a Big Ten media release that stated, “Per Conference rules, forfeitures will be assessed to Northwestern.”
B1G has issued forfeits to Northwestern women’s basketball team for not traveling to the LA schools. pic.twitter.com/NMQAP5s12f
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) February 26, 2025
Fires erupted in the Los Angeles area beginning Jan. 7 and raged out of control for several weeks, killing at least 29 people and destroying more than 16,000 structures. The largest fire, the Palisades blaze, burned almost 24,000 acres just a few miles from UCLA, leading to evacuations and disrupted operations. The Daily Bruin student newspaper reported many parents were concerned about student safety. Northwestern athletic director Mark Jackson stated that while the school would “abide” by the decision, it was rooted in “sound reasoning” not to travel during this natural disaster.
“While we acknowledge that bylaws and rules are in place for a reason and we will abide by them, it does not diminish this team’s sound reasoning for not participating during this natural disaster,” Jackson said (via Matt Fortuna). “We will continue to support our Women’s Basketball student-athletes and hope for a strong recovery for the Southern California region.” Many in the sports media criticized the Big Ten’s decision.
UCLA’s campus was one mile away from a mandatory evacuation zone on January 12.
— Brian Ping (@brianpingnews) February 26, 2025
Northwestern WBB being forced to forfeit for not traveling during deadly fires that led NBA games in the same city to get canceled seems like a bit of an absurd stance from the league https://t.co/urFehQ7GzJ
— Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) February 26, 2025
The NFL moved a PLAYOFF game due to the wildfires in LA. The NBA postponed games due to the wildfires in LA. But Northwestern is now forced to forfeit games because they made a difficult decision to not travel to LA due to the devastating wildfires? That’s not right. https://t.co/DC3T0ex9Ym
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) February 26, 2025
Absurd decision. As a result of the California wildfires, Northwestern is being automatically charged with two losses. Those games would’ve been tough for NU to win, but it’s hard to see how losses can be given for games that were never played. Big ten tourney implications too. https://t.co/uLPV9IaE4E
— Inside NU (@insidenu) February 26, 2025
The wildfires disrupted numerous sports events, including the Los Angeles Rams-Minnesota Vikings Wild Card game on Jan. 13, which was moved from SoFi Stadium to Arizona. Additionally, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers both had games postponed, and the Fox Sports Radio studio, located only a few miles from UCLA, paused live programming on Jan. 11.
