Among all the conferences affected by the Big Ten’s decision last week to cancel all non-conference games for its fall sports teams, none stands to be impacted more greatly than the Mid-American Conference.
Because both conferences are centered in the Midwest, MAC teams are popular choices for non-conference game opponents for Big Ten sports teams. For the 2020 football season alone, MAC schools were set to play 11 combined non-conference games against Big Ten schools, more than any other conference. And most of those games, including Ohio State’s scheduled home games against Bowling Green and Buffalo, were set to pay those schools more than a million dollars for their football teams’ trips to Big Ten stadiums.