MAC & ESPN CELEBRATE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOV. 6TH WITH MIAMI AT OHIO
Special guests and special events centered around Miami at Ohio at 8 pm ET on ESPN2
CLEVELAND, Ohio – On Wednesday, Nov. 6th the MAC will highlight the national celebration for the 150th Anniversary of College Football as the MAC will be the only FBS Conference playing a regular season game on the official date of the start of college football.
On Wednesday, November 6th the Miami RedHawks will travel to face the Ohio Bobcats in the 96th meeting between these MAC rivals at Peden Stadium at 8:00 pm ET in front of a national television audience on ESPN2. The Miami vs. Ohio rivalry is the longest in the MAC in terms of number of meetings as the ‘Battle of the Bricks’ rivalry began back in 1908.
The MAC and ESPN are planning special events and guests to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of College Football as ESPN will be hosting a 30-minute pregame show beginning at 7:30 pm ET leading up to kickoff. ESPN broadcast talent and special guests will highlight coverage of the MAC’s special place in college football history with football programs steeped in tradition with legendary former coaches and student-athletes.
MAC and ESPN special guests coming to Athens, Ohio include:
• Mid-American Conference Commissioner, Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher
• Bill Hancock, College Football Playoff Executive Director
• Kevin Weiberg, College Football 150th Anniversary Executive Director
• Herb Deromedi, former Central Michigan head coach/College Football Hall of Famer and winningest coach in MAC history
ESPN2 will have the broadcast team of Matt Barrie, play-by-play, Desmond Howard, analyst, and Holly Rowe, sideline reporter. In addition, ESPN will originate the pre-game show from Bristol with Kevin Connors and Trevor Matich guiding both pre-game and halftime coverage. Ivan Maisel, Editor-at-Large, ESPN College Football 150 will join the coverage from Athens celebrating the 150th Anniversary.
On Wednesday from 2-4:00 pm, the MAC and the Ohio University Sports Marketing Program will host a special College Football 150th Anniversary Symposium on campus at the Baker Center to lead a discussion with sports marketing majors and the college football special guests and ESPN broadcast talent. Beginning at 2:00 pm ET, the Symposium will include a question and answer session with current Ohio University sports marketing majors and our special guests.
Throughout the 2019 season, the MAC along with NCAA and NAIA institutions have been celebrating the 150th Anniversary of College Football dating back to November 6, 1869. The MAC created a specific celebration plan in collaboration with all 12 MAC football programs. The MAC’s celebration program ran in addition with the national 150th platform for all FBS programs.
A 10-person ‘MAC-150 Celebration’ committee, led by Central Michigan Director of Athletics, Michael Alford, was created in the Spring of 2018 and the MAC’s collaborative plan for the 2019 season focused on inclusion of all 12 MAC football programs and engagement with fan bases highlight our lengthy and celebrated MAC football history.
MAC athletic programs engaged local, regional and national fan base with customized institutional plans. MAC programs used Spring football practices, annual Spring games, summer events and training camp dates to engage fans with individual institutional polls to gather greatest moments, games, teams, coaches, student-athletes in each program’s history via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, along with website content and engagement of corporate partners. Each institution tailored their own creative video, graphics and lists to create voting metrics and video support within their individual plan.
During MAC Football Media Day on July 23rd, the MAC rolled out our MAC branded 150th video. Each week during the 2019 season, the MAC has highlighted one MAC football program to feature each institution to recognize teams, games, moments, coaches, student-athletes via MAC social media accounts and video content.
MAC programs will also participate in the National College Football 150 uniform patch program for the 2019 season. The patches will be one color (silver metallic), 3.5 x 1.7 inches and will be placed on the right, front chest of the jersey above the MAC logo.
MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Founded in 1946, the Mid-American Conference is an NCAA Division I, 12-member conference that sponsors 23 championships and is one of 10 members of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). With total enrollment of nearly 300,000 students, the league represents institutions of higher learning in five states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York and Ohio.
Current MAC schools and the year they joined are – East Division: University of Akron (1992), Bowling Green State University (1952), University at Buffalo (1998), Kent State University (1951), Miami University (1947), Ohio University (1946). West Division: Ball State University (1973), Central Michigan University (1971), Eastern Michigan University (1971), Northern Illinois University (1975-86, rejoined in 1997), University of Toledo (1950), Western Michigan University (1947). The conference office is based in Cleveland, Ohio.
