Badger-Purdue cancelled, future uncertain

The Brillion News

MADISON - The University of Wisconsin-Madison football team's home game against Purdue on Saturday will not be played.

In addition, the Badger Department of Intercollegiate Athletics said that team-related activities remain paused indefinitely.

UW-Madison Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced the decisions on Tuesday and said Saturday's game against the Boilermakers would not be rescheduled.

"I share in the disappointment of our student-athletes and staff," 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."

There have been five people associated with the football program - two staff and three student-athletes - who have tested positive in COVID-19 PCR tests recorded since Saturday, October 31.

Over the seven-day period of October 27 to November 2), student-athletes (10) and staff (11) have registered a total of 21 positive tests.

There are currently 27 active cases in the program, as of Monday, October 2. since Saturday, October 24. That includes 15 football student-athletes and 12 staff members.

The Badger football team first paused team activities on October 28 and its scheduled game at Nebraska on October 31 was canceled.

Wisconsin Athletics plans to provide another update on the program on Saturday, November 7.