Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher took the podium at MAC media day on Friday morning to address the state of the conference heading into the 2024 season.
Steinbrecher’s main comments pertained to the MAC’s stance regarding athletes being considered employees, the conference's thoughts on the transfer portal and how new college football rules are affecting the conference.
The commissioner took a firm stance on why the conference believes college athletes should not be considered employees by the government.
“The Mid-American Conference is one of the few conferences that has been active in Washington … visiting with members of Congress and their staffs. We have reached a point where we will need assistance to bring issues to conclusion,” Steinbrecher said. “We need to continue to engage with Congress to determine how scholar-athletes should be classified …The Mid-American Conference has been making the case that scholar-athletes are not employees.”
Steinbrecher is confident in the championship opportunities presented to the conference due to the new college football playoff rules that ensure one group of five conference teams is on the field every year.
“The opportunity to land a spot in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff is an attractive and attainable goal for the Mid-American Conference teams to pursue,” Steinbrecher said.
In 2025, the conference will grow one team larger with the addition of the University of Massachusetts. UMass will be the first addition to the conference since 1997. UMass will be the 13th team in the conference which brings the question of whether one more will be added to make an even number like most other conferences.
To that, Steinbrecher gave a rather broad response: "If there are people who reach out and are interested in us, we'll evaluate those. Having said that, there's nothing imminent."
The college football season is just around the corner, with Ohio and most other teams kicking off on August 31.
