Page 17 - Toledo Football Media Guide

Providing leadership in education and diversity, the Mid-American Conference moves into its 66th year of service to the student-athlete.

Since its inception in 1946, the Mid-American Con-ference has progressively grown and developed into one of the most aggressive Division I conferences in the country. One of only 11 football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences, the MAC named Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher as its eighth commissioner in the 65-year history of the league in March of 2009.

The league has grown its commitment to champion-ships by expanding to six its number of neutral site post season events – football (Ford Field, Detroit), volleyball (SPIRE Academy, Geneva, Ohio), men’s and women’s basketball (Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland), softball (Firestone Stadium, Akron) and baseball (All Pro Freight Stadium, Avon, Ohio).

In 2011, the MAC set a con-ference record with a 4-1 record in bowl games and won the prestigious ESPN Bowl Challenge Cup for the best FBS conference record in bowl games. The MAC

also tied a conference record for bowl invitations in a single season as the fve bowl invitations marked the fourth time in conference history (2004, 2008, 2009, 2011). The fve MAC programs that were extended bowl invitations included: Temple (Gildan New Mexico Bowl), Ohio (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl), Western Michigan (Little Caesars Pizza Bowl), Toledo (Military Bowl pre-sented by Northrop Grumman) and Northern Illinois (GoDaddy.com Bowl).

For the frst time in its history, the MAC will have seven bowl relationships--three primary and four sec-ondary. The three primary agreements are with the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl (Detroit, Mich.), GoDaddy.com

Bowl (Mobile, Ala.) and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boi-se, Ida.). In addition, the MAC has secured secondary agreements with the BBVA Compass Bowl (2012-2013), the Gildan New Mexico Bowl (2012-2013), the Beef O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl (2012-13) and the Tick-etCity Bowl (2012).

In its partnershipwith ESPN, theMAC is in the fourth

year of its eight-year rights agree-ment (through 2016-2017 aca-demic years) for football, as well as men’s and women’s basketball. The deal is the most extensive in the 66-year history of the confer-ence. The agreement calls for a minimum of 25 events annually to be produced and aired on an ESPN platform including the men’s and women’s basketball champi-onships, a regular-season MAC presence on ESPN, the Marathon MAC Football Championship Game and a minimum of 11 regular-season football games.

Based in Cleveland, the MAC was founded as a fve-school league on February 24, 1946 in Columbus, Ohio with Ohio, Butler, Cincinnati, Wayne State and Western Reserve admitted as charter members. The Mid-Amer-ican Conference has 12 full-time schools and a 13th, UMass for football only beginning in 2012.

In 1946 men’s basketball was the frst competi-tive sport in the MAC, which now sponsors a total 23 sports. Women’s sports were brought into the confer-ence’s structure in 1980. For men, championships (11) are sponsored in football, basketball, baseball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor track and feld, outdoor track and feld, wrestling, golf and tennis. For women, championships (12) are sponsored in bas-ketball, softball, volleyball, cross country, feld hockey, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, gymnastics, indoor track and feld, outdoor track and feld and tennis.

Page 17 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012

Page 17 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012