BOWLING GREEN — The Mid-American Conference council of presidents did not take a vote regarding the football season at their virtual meeting Saturday morning.
The MAC, which initially delayed its fall sports season on Aug. 8 with the intention to play in the spring, has begun to reconsider playing a fall football season.
Directors of athletics from all 12 MAC schools met Wednesday — the same day a committee meeting to discuss spring options was canceled — leading to a new meeting of presidents on Saturday, though the meeting was mostly informational, according to sources familiar with discussions in the MAC.
According to league commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, who released a statement on Saturday morning, the presidents will reconvene next week.
"Return to play models in the sport of football were reviewed," Steinbrecher said. "No decisions were made and we will continue examination of this matter during a meeting next week (date/time to be determined)."
The 12 presidents voted unanimously to postpone the season due to the coronavirus pandemic last month, after which the Big Ten, Pac-12, and Mountain West also chose to postpone their seasons.
The Big Ten, however, changed course this week and announced it will play in the fall. Citing expansions in rapid testing for coronavirus, the Big Ten voted to return to the field starting Oct. 24 and announced its eight-game schedule on Saturday.
A timeline for the MAC's potential return remains in flux as the league continues to discuss testing protocols, on-campus football procedures during the pandemic, and scheduling options.
A MAC source told The Blade on Thursday that the hope was for the league to also begin Oct. 24, play six or eight games without fans, and hold the league championship game at Ford Field in Detroit, its normal location.
Currently, MAC teams are allowed to hold practices during which they can wear helmets and run plays, albeit without full pads or contact during a standard practice.
Similar to players in other conferences, MAC football players this week began to vocalize their desire to play a fall season. Most notably, Buffalo running back Jaret Patterson, one of the top players in the conference, said his team wants to return.
"I know we don't have 100 million dollar budgets in the MAC and we're not going to win a Nat'l Championship but if it's not about the money, why can't we play?" he posted on Twitter. "... Why can't WE play? Respectfully, we deserve to have answers why we can't do it safely when all these other places can?"
First Published September 19, 2020, 3:19 p.m.
