BOWLING GREEN — Mid-American Conference presidents will hold a Friday meeting to vote on the state of the 2020 fall football season, according to league sources.
The meeting will consider a six-game schedule for the football season. Under the proposal, the conference championship game would take place at Ford Field, its normal location.
The MAC became the first NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision conference to postpone the season on Aug. 8, when all 12 university presidents voted to delay sports until the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic.
During the past week, however, the conference has begun to reconsider playing. Presidents met virtually in a mostly informational meeting to discuss fall football on Sept. 19 and again Tuesday, and plan to vote during the upcoming meeting.
Coronavirus testing procedures for football players and staff remains the final hurdle for the conference's return, but there is optimism within the league that its football teams could play again during the fall semester.
If all 12 MAC teams commit to playing the season, each team would play its typical intra-division round robin plus one crossover game from the other division for a total of six, with the winners of the East and West divisions meeting in the title game.
According to two sources familiar with the process, the Toledo-Bowling Green rivalry would be protected as the crossover game for both schools, which play in opposite divisions.
The current proposal is not set, but the season is unlikely to begin before Oct. 31 to allow MAC teams to have full training camps before playing games.
MAC training camps were about to begin — and some already had started — when the conference initially chose to postpone the season in August. Most MAC teams have not held contact practices since March.
During the interim period, football teams have held padless practices similar to organized team activities in the National Football League.
Further, the majority of MAC schools already have extended breaks built into their academic calendars. Ten of the 12 schools will not hold any in-person classes from the end of November until January.
If the football season does resume this semester, other fall sports still would remain on hold until the spring semester. The NCAA moved championships for volleyball, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's cross country to the spring.
First Published September 23, 2020, 3:37 p.m.
