The Mid-American Conference has canceled its football season this fall due to player health and safety concerns regarding COVID-19, sources told Stadium.
The 12-member MAC is the first Conference Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference not to play this fall. On Wednesday, UConn, an independent, became the first FBS school to announce that it would not be playing this year. The MAC intends to try to play in the spring, sources said.
The MAC reached its decision Saturday morning in a vote by the league’s presidents, sources said. The presidents of the conference first met Thursday to finalize the league’s schedule format. However, Northern Freeman president Lisa Freeman, a former research scientist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, indicated that her school would not play this fall because of health and safety concerns, sources said.
“The league does not believe that the appearance of NIU would go out on its own and not play,” a source said, explaining the MAC’s disapproval on Thursday.
The Huskies have made eight league MAC title game appearances and won four of the last nine MAC titles. After the league reached no decision on Thursday, it was not voted Saturday to play this fall, sources said.
In addition to health and safety concerns, the MAC was one of the leagues most financially affected by the Power Five’s decision to eliminate or reduce non-conference games. The MAC had canceled 11 games against Big Ten members, and MAC schools cost $ 10.5 million. Bowling Green State lost $ 2.2 million, Central Michigan lost $ 2.15 million, Kent State lost $ 1.5 million and NIU lost $ 1.1 million.
After the Big Ten announced its only conference last month, Bowling Green State athletic director Bob Moosbrugger called the decision “the tip of the iceberg. Ten FBS conferences have signed a playoff agreement for college football with an expectation that we will work together for the good of college football. If we are to solve these challenges and become truly dedicated to protecting the health and safety of our student-athletes, we must do a better job of working together. “
Then MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the league’s intention “was to play a full schedule. [Those non-conference games] are very valuable. We will now have to step back and think about what that means for us. ”
The MAC was founded in 1946. Its current membership consists of Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo and Western Michigan.
Several smaller football division subdivision (FCS) conferences have also canceled their fall football seasons. The NCAA announced Wednesday that all Division II and III fall sports championships will be canceled.
The question now is this: will other FBS leagues follow suit and cancel their seasons?
“Canceling a group of five leagues would make our presidents more nervous in an already nervous time,” said a group of five athletic directors.
A Power Five AD added: “Everyone understands the financial implications without a football season, but the other conference chairmen will want to take a chance on what’s happening on campus – [like] a major COVID outbreak that shuts down the football program and the campus? That would be a big PR hit and then there are the concerns about liability.
‘Who knows? I think we’ll figure it out soon enough. ‘
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