The Mountain West Conference yesterday canceled its fall sports season due to health concerns related to the ongoing pandemic, though the MWC said that it "will look into the feasibility of moving fall competition into the spring," according to Brandon Judd of the DESERET NEWS. However, one MWC AD "didn't completely close the door on competition" this fall. Air Force AD Nathan Pine called the cancellation the "appropriate course of action at this time," but added that his school will look into opportunities to compete against fellow service academies if the opportunity arose (DESERET NEWS, 8/11).
TAKING A BIG HIT: In San Diego, Bryce Miller writes the MWC's cancellation "provided a reason to feel reassured that amid the blizzard of statements from those directing college football vowing that player health remains the No. 1 priority, the backroom bucks did not derail our collective conscience." But it also is "reason to feel empty because of the financial repercussions that will ripple through athletic departments." Miller: "Jobs will be lost. Programs will be cut." College football's eye socket is "bruised purple; its lips puffy and dripping blood" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/11).
SUDDEN ABOUT-FACE: In Colorado Springs, Paul Klee writes the MWC's announcement was a "crushing development for the athletes who had their seasons stolen away." The MWC on Wednesday had just released a revised plan to go forward with fall sports, so the reason for the cancellation "isn't clear." But that is "quite a leap in a short time from 'Let's do this!' to 'Surprise!' at a time when coronavirus numbers seem to be improving." The notion a player "would be safer without the health protocols, immense resources and inherent incentive that college football provides must have born in academia." Klee: "It's that wacky." At the MWC's level and above, decisions to nix football seasons "were not about player health and safety," they were "mostly about cost and liability" (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 8/11).
