The entire NCAA FCS will not participate in conference sports this fall as the board of the Ohio Valley Conference of Presidents made its decision official through a vote of Friday, sources told ESPN. However, the OVC left the door open for its teams to play as many as four nonconferences football matches this fall, with a view to playing a football schedule of seven conference games in the spring of 2021.
The OVC was the last of 13 FCS conferences to postpone fall athletics to the spring, and, like those other conferences, left the door open to play non-conferences this fall. But the league is the first to reveal a specific number of fall and spring games.
The Southland and Southern Conferences on Thursday announced their proposed bankruptcy sports.
The Division I football championship Subdivision Level, formerly known as I-AA, had already seen its playoffs hosted by the NCAA once the number of postponement of conference events exceeded 50% earlier in the week. But the remaining individual conferences still explored the possibility of preserving their regular seasons. As of Friday, many FCS football programs were still dealing with decisions regarding their nonconferencing schedule and the possibility of saving a few nonconferencing games.
The majority of FCS conference announcements are handled solely during the conference game, leaving decisions outside of conferences to individual institutions. For example, the Southern Conference’s nine football plans, when they entered this week, included a combination of 14 nonconference games, including two against FBS opponents.
“Today’s decision by the SoCon was not one that was taken lightly,” Mercer University athletic director Jim Cole said in a statement on Thursday. “Disappointed by the move to the spring, I look forward to meeting with our student-athletes as soon as possible and charting a new path forward. The actions through the conference leave flexibility for a sub-scheme this coming semester. I look forward to following all the options related to games in the fall. “
Mercer, like many FCS programs, has been aggressive when it comes to game planning with Power 5 opponents. In 2017, the Bears play both Alabama and Auburn for a combined payday of $ 1,050,000. The budget for Mercer’s entire athletics department is reported to be in the range of $ 9 million. Mercer was originally scheduled to begin the 2020 season at Vanderbilt, but lost that game when the SEC cut its fall schedule only after conference.
Even amid announcements about postponing FCS conference season, some schools were still confirming the dates for fall 2020. Among them, Austin Peay of the OVC moved her Week 1 game to Cincinnati from the American Athletic Conference ( and a $ 390,000 payout) after Sept. 19, Houston Baptist of the Southland Conference said it was still scheduled to play Louisiana Tech of Conference USA on Sept. 15, and Campbell University of the Big South Conference announced the addition. of a trip to Appalachian State of the Sun Belt on sept. 26. There are also multiple FCS matchups for nonconferences that are likely to be played, such as the Sept. 3 game. between Eastern Kentucky of the OVC and Western Carolina of the SoCon.
The primary concern seems to weigh the financial burden against the benefits of playing what may be nothing more than a few football games, especially when it comes to the price tag of NCAA-mandated COVID-19 testing.
“We can’t afford the cost of these tests, and if the big shows are honest with you, many of them can’t afford it either,” Chattanooga Mocs head coach Rusty Wright told ESPN Radio & McGee Marty a week ago. , “But those costs do not mean we do not want to play.”
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