You're thinking more into this than you need to. It's not about a "motivation to save money" or anything along those lines whatsoever. The reason they were eliminated is very simple, it's because they were unnecessary. Division in hoops became meaningless. They served zero purpose. Period. Every country in the nation realized and agreed with it and eliminated them years ago. The MAC finally, after years of having them for no reason, did the same. For a period in time the MAC rewarded division winners a bye to Cleveland. At least then they served some sort of purpose. But because the East was always so much better overall than the West, that was done away with, so the top 4 got byes regardless of division - thus making the divisions completely meaningless. For example, you could be first in the MAC West, but actually be 7th overall in the MAC. Since there are no divisional championship formats in basketball like football, they did away with them. The MAC was just way behind the times in doing so. As for wanting to play your rival twice a year like Ohio vs Miami, sure, who wouldn't? But what about teams like BG and Toledo who are rivals - but were in different divisions? Sometimes they only played once a year simply because the divisions existed. So it certainly didn't work for them. The lone game vs one MAC teams will actually now be cut down in numbers since the conference schedule will increase from 18 to 20 games. And as someone else posted, I'd also rather just do the full conference allotment and do 22 games with a round robin. The MAC used to do that when it only had 10 teams and it was fantastic!

I'd hate every part about it. Losing a rival would SUCK for this program (and I would feel TERRIBLE for THAT program)

Interesting. From the NCAA's standpoint, this entire situation doesn't play well for them... Not sure how they'll handle it.

What I've seen in the non-Sports world is that Covid is giving an out for companies to make decisions that were already in the works, just like the MAC is doing now. Telecommuting, downsizing, work-space sharing, etc. These ideas that may have had obstacles before, are now moving forward full speed ahead under the cover that "Covid is making us do this".

I will miss being able to social distance at Sprenger stadium in Avon watching the MAC tournament. It was a lot of fun to play hooky from work and watch some baseball.

I don't think there is an official release. Just an interview with WTOL’s Jordan Strack.

https://www.wtol.com/article/sports/major-changes-coming-to-mid-american-conference/512-0e4f0d45-546b-432f-89a1-67a5a6d8fe3c

Ohio would have 2 less championships rings if there wasn't a conference tournament. Finished as the 4th seed in 2015 and the 5th seed in 2017.

Couldn't they have at least kicked around the idea of a 4 team tournament?

No. since those are the easy ones to schedule, it's more likely to eliminate the money games.

That sucks.

I agree with your point about the regular season winner. To me, THAT is exactly what determines who the best team in the conference is. Not whichever team wins 3 games in Cleveland. That's what I used to love about the Ivy League before they changed and went to a small conference tournament a couple years ago. The Ivy League's regular season games were extremely important. They still are since the tournament format is small, but not like it used to be. Look, I get why we have the conference tournaments, and they are exciting at times. But for mid-major leagues like the MAC that only get one bid (the conference tournament winner), it essentially makes the regular season meaningless as far as NCAA Tournament hopes go. In the previous format, you could literally go 0-30 overall, 0-18 in the MAC, then win 4 games in the MAC Tournament and go dancing. To be that's sums up the flaw with one-bid league tournaments in a nutshell. IMO - the conference tournaments are best suited for the power conferences. Because they're sending multiple teams in already, and their conference tournaments can either help or hurt bubble teams, and essentially be a showcase for the team that wins. But the other 4-8 teams that didn't are still going dancing anyway. The MAC Tournament has none of that value, you either win it or you don't go dancing. I'd much, much rather see an 18-22 game regular season team be crowned than to see team X, Y or Z win 3 games to go dancing. It's way harder to showcase and separate yourself over 18-22 games than it is in 3 in Cleveland. Most teams every year can string together 3 consecutive wins at some point in a season. I just hate the value that's given when a team does it in Cleveland over what teams did for an entire regular season.

I would agree if the regular season was a true round-robin schedule. Personally, I love the conference tourneys for many reasons, not least is that every team and fanbase can stay connected until the end of the season. Would there have been any reason for us to follow the Bobcats in February without it?

It is, but I wonder how it does financially. Even if it loses a little money, though, I'd think it's worth it for the exposure and the fan experience.

Yes..no doubt the directional Michigan schools will continue to schedule four Division II games.

JeffM, I don't see the MAC basketball tourney getting eliminated, but it doesn't always produce the true champ. Sure fans enjoy going to an NBA venue to watch the games. In baseball and softball at least every league school will be scheduled to play each other over a 30 game stretch. As OhioBobcat mentioned, over the course of an 18 or 20 game MAC season, the regular season hoops champ is more worthy than a team getting hot for a three game stretch in March. Why put effort into winning the regular season if it doesn't amount to anything? May as well play every team once and then for budget purposes, schedule money games at Xavier, UC, Kentucky, Ohio State and Louisville.