CLEVELAND — With coronavirus cases surging across the country, multiple college sports conferences are debating if they should continue with fall sports.
MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told ESPN 850 on Thursday that the conference is preparing for fall sports, but knows a decision will have to be made soon.
“My sense is that we’re headed to some sort of decision at the end of July. Whether that decision is to proceed or to delay or to postpone I don’t know as I sit here today.”
On Thursday, the conference announced it would be postponing the start of field hockey, soccer, volleyball and cross country until Sept. 3.
The decision was made to provide additional time to prepare for a safe return of the sports and applies to exhibition and non-conference games.
Postponing the start of the aforementioned sports aligns with the start of the football season, which was not postponed, and allows all of the fall competition to start at the same time.
Steinbrecher said if sports weren't played this fall, the conference would try to come up with a plan B.
“We’d be working very hard to figure out how we could move some or all of those sports into the spring…Is it something that could happen, yes? Is it being seriously considered? I’d say that’s on the table and it’s over on one side. We’re kind of at step A or B right now and that’s probably step F. We’ll work these things sequentially and ultimately you may end up at that question," Steinbrecher said.
