Wednesday, Sept. 16. Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson released a statement referring to the possibility of the return to football.
“Multiple subgroups within the Conference are working daily on solutions to the existing challenges in order to facilitate a return to play for Mountain West football, and other Conference sport programs, at the earliest possible opportunity,” Thompson said. “This includes finalizing a plan for frequent, rapid response testing and continuing to monitor the status of public health directives in our MW states and communities.”
Later that night TheStadium’s Brett McMurphey tweeted, “Mountain West ‘aggressively exploring’ options to play 8-game fall season, culminating with Dec. 19 MW title game, sources told @Stadium. This would allow league to be eligible for NY6 bowls. Not all schools might play with Hawaii, Fresno & Air Force biggest unknowns for full season.”
The statement comes a day after the Big Ten announced its return to play after being the first Power Five conference to postpone their season. The Pac-12 is also backpedaling on its decision to postpone sports until 2021 with Commissioner Larry Scott stating, “We still need approval from the local health officials in the counties in California and Oregon, but we’re going to push the envelope.”
