The University at Buffalo football team’s game against Kansas State remains on the schedule, for now.
The Big 12 Conference announced Monday that its member schools in football will play a 10-game schedule made up of nine conference games and one nonconference game, if a season is played. UB is scheduled to open the season Sept. 5 at Kansas State.
The Big 12 schedule has been shortened because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Kansas State currently has two nonconference home games on its schedule: Sept. 5 vs. UB and Sept. 12 against North Dakota State.
It’s unclear when Big 12 teams can start their schedules. As of Monday evening, Kansas State had not announced any changes to its schedule or a decision on its nonconference opponent. The Big 12 also did not announce any schedule changes for any of its schools.
In a release, the Big 12 said its start date for conference play has yet to be finalized, but it’s anticipated to begin between mid and late September. Nonconference games must be played prior to the start of conference games.
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UB, which is scheduled to begin preseason practices Friday, has already had two games on its 2020 schedule canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bulls will not play Sept. 19 at Ohio State after the Big Ten Conference announced last month that it will not play nonconference games in any of its fall sport.
The Northeast Conference announced last week that it will postpone its fall sports season, which canceled the Bulls’ home opener Sept. 12 at UB Stadium against Saint Francis, a Football Championship Subdivision program that is a member of the NEC.
According to the game contract with Kansas State, which was obtained by The News through a Freedom of Information Law request, Kansas State is scheduled to pay UB $900,000 for the Sept. 5 game in Manhattan, Kan.
There is a force majeure clause in the contract – unforeseeable circumstances that prevent either party from fulfilling a contract – that relieves either program of financial penalty if the game is canceled because of weather events (flooding, hurricane, tornado), war or conflict or other events that would make “it impossible or impractical to play.”
The contract also states that if either party cancels the game without written agreement of both parties, the canceling party would pay $1 million in damages.
However, there is no language regarding cancellation due to a pandemic or an epidemic.
At UB, that full $900,000 payout from Kansas State would amount to 9.25% of its football revenues ($9,724,780) from the 2019 fiscal year, according to UB’s NCAA Membership Financial Report, which was also obtained by The News through a FOIL request.
Contracts between athletic departments for nonconference football games contain different language regarding cancellations in each document, and that language could determine if Big 12 schools can cancel the games without financial penalty. It also could determine if those schools would still owe MAC teams money, or it could determine whether the nonconference game could be rescheduled.
The NCAA’s Board of Governors could make a decision regarding fall sports championships as soon as Tuesday. Canceling or postponing fall championships wouldn’t directly affect the 130-team Football Bowl Subdivision, which crowns its champion through the College Football Playoff and not the NCAA, but a decision to hold or cancel fall sports championships could impact decisions that conferences with FBS programs make regarding their fall seasons.
