Mountain West Has No Immediate Plans For College Football This Fall
Big Ten is moving forward, Pac-12 standing pat.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
No movement on Mountain West football
The Big Ten announced on Tuesday that the league is going to play football this fall with an eight-game slate plus a crossover game to end its season on Dec. 19. The league is slated to begin play on the weekend before Halloween.
The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) adopted significant medical protocols and has voted unanimously to resume the football season starting the weekend of October 23-24, 2020: https://t.co/b5yHShGb1D
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) September 16, 2020
The Pac-12 which is usually tied at the hip of the Big Ten had its own announcement from commissioner Larry Scott and there is no decision at this time to play college football this fall.
“At this time, our universities in California and Oregon do not have approval from state or local public health officials to start contact practice,” Scott stated. “We are hopeful that our new daily testing capability can help satisfy public health official approvals in California and Oregon to begin contact practice and competition. We are equally closely monitoring the devastating fires and air quality in our region at this time. We are eager for our student-athletes to have the opportunity to play this season, as soon as it can be done safely and in accordance with public health authority approvals.”
The main issue from the Pac-12 comes from the state governments of California and Oregon about participating in a contact sport. The Pac-12 seemingly has the testing in place and ready to go but that is not enough at the highest levels of government to give it a green light.
Plus, the states of Oregon and California are literally on fire, so even if COVID-19 was not a thing games likely would have been moved and/or postponed across the West Coast. The Pac-12 really should figure out a way to play this fall but it seems less and less likely.
As for the Mountain West, they released a short and to the point statement which says they are still working on a plan to play sports.
Multiple subgroups within the Conference are working daily on solutions to the existing challenges in order to facilitate a return to play for Mountain West football, and other Conference sport programs, at the earliest possible opportunity. This includes finalizing a plan for frequent, rapid response testing and continuing to monitor the status of public health directives in our MW states and communities.
That response is not a complete no to playing in the fall but seems like the league is moving forward as quickly and safely to play college football.
Getting rapid testing is a key component for not just football, but life, in general, to return to normal until there is an effective vaccine. The Mountain West, like the Pac-12, has schools in California with three, plus Hawaii and New Mexico are not allowing contact practices.
The Mountain West might be better of not playing college football in the fall because the TV money this league gets compared to the Pac-12 and other Power 5 leagues is pennies on the dollar. Tickets and making money from home games is what the Mountain West needs to be successful and earn money. Playing in front of near-empty stands does nothing for these school bottom lines which are on a very fine tight rope for budget purposes.
Even if games are played in early 2021, there is no guarantee that a full stadium can be had, and the schools might be worse of financially playing in front of limited numbers compared to not playing at all.
Getting Mountain West football back in the fall at some point would be amazing but when looking at the financial and safety aspects of the world we are living in, the smart choice would be to wait until January at the earliest.
If for some reason the league does make a move to play some sort of fall schedule, we will be along for the ride and hope for the best by keeping everyone involved safe.
