The Mid-American Conference (MAC) could be returning to the football field this year following a key vote expected Friday.
UPDATE: Mid-American Conference football to return with 6-game season
The MAC was the first of the NCAA division one conferences to postpone their football season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There are simply too many unknowns for us to put our student athletes in situations that are not clearly understood,” said MAC Commissioner John Steinbrecher at the time.
Eastern Michigan University Athletic Director Scott Wetherbee said some student athletes were disappointed about the decision to postpone while others were relieved.
“It makes it a lot easier to look a student athlete in the eye and say I know you’re disappointed because you really want to play, but your health and safety is more important. Having these discussions about testing on a Tuesday before a Friday volleyball match, traveling to the location and finding out while you’re there that somebody’s positive and then you’re tracing, you can’t play, and you gotta head home. All of the sudden you only have 16 games, you were supposed to have 30,” said Wetherbee.
With the Big Ten conference now playing this fall, pressure is building. Presidents of all MAC schools are going to meet. It’s expected they’ll vote on whether to have a fall season.
The season likely would only include six games. Of course, the state of Michigan has a big stake in this with three of the 12 schools in state -- Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, and Eastern Michigan University.
Read more: Big Ten reinstates fall football season, with games scheduled to begin Oct. 23-24