LARAMIE — The Mid-American Conference (MAC), home to scheduled University of Wyoming opponent Ball State, will not play football this fall, the conference announced Saturday morning.
The MAC is the first Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference to opt out of fall football amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a press release, the MAC said it will attempt to move all of its fall sports seasons to the spring.
“The Council of Presidents unanimously voted to take this action with the health and safety of its student-athletes, coaches and communities as its top priorities,” the statement reads. “It is the intention of membership to provide competitive opportunities for the student-athletes in these sports during the spring semester of 2021.”
The University of Connecticut, an independent, became the first FBS team to cancel its football season on Wednesday. That same day, the Mountain West announced that its teams would play an eight-game conference schedule with up to two non-conference matchups, with the season kicking off the week of Sept. 26.
UW originally had 12 scheduled games in 2020 with non-conference tilts vs. Weber State (Sept. 5), at Louisiana (Sept. 12), Utah (Sept. 19) and at Ball State (Sept. 26). The matchup with Utah was canceled in July following the Pac-12’s decision to play a conference-only schedule.
On Friday, Weber State’s conference, the Big Sky, said it was moving its conference slate of football games to the spring, though it its non-conference games were still in play for the fall.
The only UW opponent from outside the Mountain West that still plans on fully pursuing fall football is Louisiana, who plays in the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt announced on Tuesday an eight-game conference schedule for its teams with up to four non-conference opportunities.
The Mountain West has not yet released specifics on its teams’ schedules.
