MACtion, we hardly knew ye. There won't be any sloppy-but-endearing weeknight football this fall.
Stadium's Brett McMurphy reports the MAC has decided to cancel its football season among concerns about player health and safety. It will try to play in the spring, per McMurphy.
The league took a major financial hit when the Big Ten and other Power 5 schools canceled their non-conference games. Losing Big Ten games cost the MAC $10 million alone, according to The Action Network's Darren Rovell. Central Michigan was guaranteed a combined $2.15 million by Nebraska and Northwestern.
In an average year, with fans and with these so-called "buy games" being played, roughly half the teams in the MAC lose money. And among those that make money, it’s rarely more than $2 million.
For some perspective, with its two guarantee games this season, Central Michigan would've covered the annual salaries of their entire coaching staff. Their coach Jim McElwain makes $640,000.
Several FCS conferences have already canceled their seasons, and the Division II and III playoffs have also been axed.
The MAC is the first FBS league to fully cancel its season in full, just a few weeks after every Power 5 league put out a new schedule without non-conference games.
“A Group of Five league canceling would make our presidents more nervous in an already nerve-racking time,” a G5 athletic director told McMurphy.
