The National Football League has postponed the Oct. 4 Tennessee Titans-Pittsburgh Steelers game after several Titans players tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, according to ESPN. 

The league Wednesday said in a Tweet that the game would be rescheduled “to allow additional time for further daily COVID-19 testing and to ensure the health and safety of the players, coaches and game day personnel." Four Titans players as well as five team personnel members tested positive for the virus this week, according to ESPN.

In its statement, the NFL said the Titans-Steelers game could be played as early as Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, the Titans have closed their team facilities through Saturday, according to ESPN. 

The postponement marks the first game affected by the COVID-19 outbreak since the league launched its season four weeks ago. The postponement comes as college football looks to ramp up play on the field. Last week the Pac-12 voted to play a seven-game, conference only season beginning Nov. 6, joining the Big Ten in reversing initial season cancellations due to the pandemic.  

The Big Ten Conference has decided to postpone its fall sports program, including its college football schedule, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to published reports.

"The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren in a statement. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall."

The Big Ten's decision to postpone the college football season until at least Spring 2021 comes after a morning meeting with the conference’s presidents. The conference, which includes such schools as Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, becomes the first of the "Power Five" conferences -- which also includes the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC) -- to postpone the 2020 college football season, striking a major blow to prospects for a college football season this fall. 

Other conferences that have decided to cancel fall sports play include The Mountain West, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the Mid-American Conference.