Mid-American Conference football teams receive green light to return to play

The Mid-American Conference announced Friday afternoon that teams in the conference will return to play after a unanimous vote by the conference’s council of presidents.

The MAC was one of the first leagues to delay or cancel fall sports in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Friday it became the last to reinstate some semblance of fall sports. A somber commissioner Jon Steinbrecher announced the initial postponement Aug. 8, becoming the first conference to do so. It all changed Friday.

“Our decisions, in August and again today, have been guided by an overriding concern for the well-being of the student athletes, institutions, and the community at large,” he said in a news release. “Our medical advisory group, presidents, directors of athletics, and others, have worked hard to develop a plan that provides the opportunity for student athletes to compete.”

The conference will play a six-game schedule. Play will begin Wednesday Nov. 4, which logically suggests a nationally televised game announcing the return of MACtion, the league’s signature football product.

“We are grateful that the Mid-American Conference, our presidents, athletic directors, and medical teams have re-examined our opportunity to compete and have made the decision to move forward with a fall season,” University of Akron head coach Tom Arth said in a release. “If we have learned anything over the last six months, it is how to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Our team has displayed great toughness and resiliency amidst all the uncertainty and to be blessed with the opportunity to play the game we love this fall means so much.”