CMU home opener vs. San Jose State postponed, Chippewas await decision from MAC
Central Michigan players run onto the field to play New Mexico State Oct. 12 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
Central Michigan’s Sept. 5 home opener against San Jose State at Kelly/Shorts Stadium has been postponed.
The Mountain West Conference, the conference the Spartans compete in, adjusted its schedule on Aug. 5 to eight conference games and the option of two non-conference games starting no earlier than Sept. 26.
Playing two non-conference games, if SJSU chooses to do so, leaves the door open to still potentially make the trip to Mount Pleasant.
Whether or not the game will be rescheduled remains up in the air as the Mid-American Conference has not yet made a decision for the 2020 football season.
The MAC is the last Football Bowl Subdivision conference to finalize plans for the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tony Paul of the Detroit News reported the conference will meet Aug. 6 to set its plan in place.
All of CMU’s non-conference games — at home against SJSU and Bryant, and on the road against Northwestern and Nebraska — have either been postponed or canceled.
Bryant, which competes in the Football Championship Subdivision and the Northeast Conference, will not play football in the fall as the NEC postponed the fall sports season. The Big Ten Conference elected to move to a conference-only schedule on July 9.
On the Spartan’s schedule, the game at CMU and a home game against UC Davis are listed as “postponed” while games at Penn State and home against Connecticut are officially “canceled” as the Huskies canceled their 2020 football season.
CMU's standard force majeure clause states: "The parties agree that if by reason of an act of God or natural crisis that would make it impossible or impractical to play the game agreed to, the game shall be canceled or rescheduled and both parties shall be relieved of any and all obligations of this agreement.”
If the game is canceled, the clause would relieve CMU of the $350,000 payment (which would be returned in 2025 after the completion of the home-and-home series) and would alleviate SJSU of the $1 million in damages it would have to pay to CMU.
