Reports: Big Sky moving season to spring; announcement expected Friday

The Big Sky Conference presidents have either voted to cancel the 2020 fall football season, as reported by several sources Thursday, or they haven’t, and in any case it might be a formality,

Among the many sources of the bad news was the Oregonian’s John Canzano, who posted on Twitter that the league presidents had voted no on the 2020 season, which would put the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on life support.

Thirty-five minutes later Canzano reported that the presidents were still on a conference call about that issue as well as the other fall sports in which the Big Sky competes. While NBCMontana reported that the fall season was canceled, Skylinesports.com reported that no decision will be announced until Friday.

Both Skyline and the Greeley (Colorado) Tribune reported that league athletic directors recommended moving to an eight-game conference-only schedule to be played in the spring. Programs would also have the option to play a three-game non-conference slate this fall.

The NCAA Board of Governors have mandated that half of the playoff-eligible teams would have to be playing for there to be an FCS postseason. Losing the Big Sky’s 11 teams would likely doom that possibility.

Other conferences seem to be waiting on the Big Sky’s decision. The Missouri Valley Conference, home to national powerhouse North Dakota State, postponed its presidents meeting that was scheduled for Thursday until next week.

The MVC also indefinitely postponed its virtual media day, which was to be this coming Monday.