The Mid-American Conference is postponing all fall sports, including football, due to continuing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced Saturday.
League presidents met Saturday morning and voted for the postponement. The MAC is the first FBS conference to opt not to play this fall. Earlier this week, FBS independent UConn became the first FBS program to cancel its season.
“I’m heartbroken we are in this place,” MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said during Saturday’s news conference.
In its statement, the MAC said it has started formalizing plans to move all affected sports — football, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey and women’s volleyball — to spring 2021.
“The Council of Presidents unanimously voted to take this action with the health and safety of its student-athletes, coaches and communities as its top priority,” the MAC said in a statement. “It is the intention of the membership to provide competitive opportunities for the student-athletes in these sports during the spring semester of 2021.”
Central Michigan football coach Jim McElwain said on Twitter that the decision not to play was a “disappointment” but that “we respect the decision made by the MAC today.”
While we are disappointed to not be playing this fall, we respect the decision made by the MAC today. Our main priority is ensuring the safety of our players, staff, their families and loved ones. This is a difficult time, but we will get through it, and we’ll do it together.
— Jim McElwain (@CoachMcElwain) August 8, 2020
The MAC said no decision had been made regarding winter sports, including men’s and women’s basketball.
The MAC presidents initially met Thursday morning to discuss the season but could not reach a decision. Northern Illinois and other league members expressed reservations about playing football and other sports safely amid the pandemic, sources said.
Nine of 13 conferences at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) — Division I’s second-tier — already announced postponed their fall football seasons, with an eye toward making them up in the spring.
But in FBS, conferences have been putting in place plans — however tentative — for the coming season. The Power Five went first and then the so-called Group of Five, with the American Athletic, Sun Belt, Mountain West and Conference USA all completing schedule models this week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
