Eastern Michigan athletic director Scott Wetherbee saw what happened Saturday in the Mid-American Conference, and he believes it’s only the beginning of the …
Eastern Michigan athletic director Scott Wetherbee saw what happened Saturday in the Mid-American Conference, and he believes it’s only the beginning of the most chaotic lead-up to a college football season in history. In a historic move, MAC presidents voted unanimously to cancel football in the conference in 2020, pushing over a massive domino that could give other FBS conferences the impetus to follow suit, as university leaders grapple with how to safely hold a season during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the first time the MAC has canceled a football season since the league’s inception in 1946. The conference joins Connecticut as FBS programs that won’t play this fall. „It wouldn’t shock me if some followed suit,“ Wetherbee said. „Actually, I would be surprised if some didn’t.“ The MAC hopes to move all fall sports, including football, to the spring, and there’s a growing belief other conferences — particularly in the Group of 5 — will try to do the same. Or perhaps even in the Big Ten, where conference commissioner Kevin Warren also is favoring a spring season, sources told the Free Press on Saturday. Neither Wetherbee nor Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard could speculate on what a spring season might look like. There are hurdles to clear, including the prospect of playing two seasons in one year, and there’s no guarantee a COVID-19 vaccine will be readily available by that time. „It depends on who is staying in the fall and how big of a schedule you can have and what does that do for the fall in the following year,“ Wetherbee said. „Those are all things we’ve got to have discussions about.“ MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher was adamant Saturday the conference’s decision was about health and safety, rather than money. „It’s a health and well-being decision,“ he said.
