The Western Michigan Broncos and the Stony Brook Seawolves have made changes to their 2020 football schedule due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the schools announced on Thursday.
Western Michigan, previously scheduled to open the 2020 season at home at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Mich., against the Colgate Raiders, will now play host to the Stony Brook Seawolves. The game will remain scheduled for Friday, Sept. 4.
“We are looking forward to opening the 2020 season with Stony Brook,” WMU head coach Tim Lester said. “We know coronavirus has changed, and will keep changing, how we operate this season. We will continue to operate with an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our student-athletes, staff members, fans and WMU community.”
The move was necessitated due to Colgate, a member of the Patriot League, not being able to travel to games via air nor being allowed to stay overnight at a remote location, per league mandate.
Stony Brook, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, was previously scheduled for an open date during Week 1, which allowed them to schedule the contest at Western Michigan.
An additional change was made to Stony Brook’s 2020 football schedule due to a delay in the start of the season for Patriot League members.
The Seawolves were previously scheduled to open the season at the Fordham Rams in Week Zero on Saturday, Aug. 29. That game will no longer be played on Aug. 29 and the schools “…may look to reschedule the game for later in the season, if the NCAA maximum for permitted number of games allows.”
Fordham was supposed to play at Hawaii in 2020 (Sept. 12), which is what allowed them to schedule the Week Zero game against Stony Brook.
“Football games are typically scheduled years in advance. Scheduling this game was anything but typical,” Stony Brook director of athletics Shawn Heilbron said. “As one of the few programs with a bye in Week 1, we were proactive in filling that date with the knowledge that our opener at Fordham would likely not occur.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to compete against Western Michigan to open the season and look forward to traveling to Kalamazoo.”
2020 Football Schedules