Rumor: MAC school to announce tomorrow no fall football
Link: https://mobile.twitter.com/JimMaisano/status/1291827959054180353
Not verified, but tweet suggests a MAC school may announce tomorrow, possibly followed by entire conference.
Not good.
I would argue it's very good.
(and that's leaving aside the considerable health concerns regarding playing football during a pandemic).
MAC football programs typically lose many millions of dollars per year, for athletic programs that typically lose $15-$20 million per year. There is zero justification for those programs to play football this fall while taking money from academics.
The only reason UM, OSU, Alabama, etc have a chance of playing football this fall is because they have literally 10 times the resources that EMU, WMU, Akron etc have.
- UM can pay to have their players & staff tested 3 times per week; put up in hotels for a day or two longer to create a "mini" bubble; have enough PPE for each & every person; pay to modify their weight rooms, practice facilities, etc to fit the new health standards. EMU etc can only do that if they take even more money away than usual from universities that already are facing a crushing fiscal deficit (and one that won't be filled by ESPN or CBS money; MACtion pays very little).
After 2020, they should announce the schools will be going to Div II and they have formed a new league with Grand Valley State, etc, but that won't happen unless the elected leaders of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana force these schools to reckon with their runaway athletic deficits.
Michigan endowment 12B, Central Michigan 0.15B.
MAC should go back to Div II with 50 other teams.
Bummer, but overall good. Better safe than sorry.
My understanding was that many of the MAC and other D1 schools were asking for the same "cupcake game" participation payout this year which help their programs to survive, but when out of conference tune up games were cancelled, they were shit out of luck. Maryland and Rutgers have even suggested larger % of the revenue pool from the conference this year for their participation.
Indeed UM, OSU, PSU can survive 20% attendance for a year. Most schools, specifically those not in a power conference subsidizing their participation, can't.
1) Is that true about Rutgers and Maryland? I can't believe they actually asked, but if so, that would be wonderful. The peals of laughter from Happy Valley to Madison would be great.
2) While MAC schools certainly are hurt by losing the $750k for the body bag games, that's just a big drop in a leaky budget bucket. Even without COVID, MAC schools are massively subsidizing their football, basketball, etc teams; now with COVID, it is even worse (hence the cancellation).
It is darn near a crime that with skyrocketing college costs, the MAC schools subsidize their athletic programs to the tune of over $1,000 per student per year out of the general fund.
MAC SHMAC
Well, let’s be honest. All their money games have been taken off the table with the P5 going conference only. To run those teams out there is only going to tax their already strapped athletic departments. While I’m sure player safety is the most important consideration here, that’s the financial nail in the coffin.
Wasn't Notre Dame supposed to play Western Michigan still? Am I mistaken there? If the MAC completely shut itself down, and I wouldn't blame them for doing it in a pandemic, then I wonder how many schools that still had games scheduled with the MAC that this might affect.
You are correct, September 19.
https://und.com/sports/football/schedule/
EDIT: EMU had Kentucky and Missouri, but those have been cancelled already b/c the SEC is only playing in-conference.
Yep. There goes the only gimme game left...well maybe Duke.
Should've stuck with Navy.
To hell with Notre Dame.
Of course they cannot afford to play w/o fans. (Most schools struggle with fans.)
Unfortunately, this is the beginning of college sports consolidation.
God speed to all of the smaller schools!!!!
Just cancel already. Why we want to put ourselves through pain is beyond me.
August 7th, 2020 at 10:18 PM ^
Everything can be canceled but there's still going to be pain... until a safe & effective vaccine is available.
Covid-19 is accelerating an already untenable financial position for all colleges lower than P5 institutions.
In this economic climate, it's not feasible to raid the general fund for the funds necessary for D1 programs. There's going to be a massive shakeup in the landscape over the next two years.
August 8th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
Someone else can make the official post, but as of 20 minutes ago, the MAC conference has officially canceled the Fall season. Hoping to get games in the Spring...
August 10th, 2020 at 8:50 AM ^
Gonna miss week night Maction
August 28th, 2020 at 5:54 AM ^
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