Over the last three days, the conferences responsible for sending teams to the Arizona Bowl have postponed their 2020 football seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mountain West Conference made its decision Monday afternoon, two days after the Mid-American Conference became the first FBS conference to cancel all fall sports. Mountain West officials said Monday that they will explore shifting the football season, and all fall sports, to the spring.
Arizona Bowl executives will meet over the next few days to discuss its plan for this year’s game, whether it’s moving the game to the spring or skipping the season altogether.
Chairman Ali Farhang said the game will continue “to monitor and evaluate this ever fluid situation and will be engaged in discussions over the next few days to discuss various possible alternatives.”
“Whether college football is played in some form this fall or postponed into a spring format, the Arizona Bowl is both able and willing to be part of a creative solution,” Farhang said.
The Mountain West was a founding member of the Arizona Bowl, with the first-ever game in 2015 featuring two teams from the league. Over the years, the MWC has sent Nevada, Colorado State, Air Force, Utah State and Wyoming to Tucson for the December game.
Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said Monday that “numerous external factors and unknowns outside our control" made the decision to postpone the 2020 season necessary.
"I fully understand the impact of this outcome on our student- athletes, coaches, administrators and staff who work so hard daily to play the sports we all love, and I share in their disappointment," he said. "We will continue to navigate this pandemic together, overcome the obstacles and return to intercollegiate athletics at the earliest opportunity.”
