The Mid-American Conference’s decision to sell next season’s Central Michigan v. Western Michigan football game to ESPN instead of its fans is a disgrace.

Obviously, it makes sense from both a money and national exposure standpoint. But it suffers because it takes away from two things – a strong fan base and a college tradition.

It’s no secret that college athletics – particularly football and men’s basketball – have grown into a business where making money trumps anything related to athletic accomplishment and fan camaraderie. (See: Brian Kelly).

We knew the weekday games wouldn’t stop. It’s unfortunate for the fans and students because most don’t have the time to travel on weeknights, but it does get Central on TV and generate revenue.

But why did the MAC have to sell the most important game for both schools to ESPN?

The fault doesn’t lie with Central or Western in this case. ESPN looks at games it wants, then it asks the conference, not the schools, if one of its networks can broadcast the game.

So, on top of waiting until mid-March to release its conference schedule, the MAC also decided to sell its most popular game for the second straight season. Remember, last season the game was set for a Friday night because it was supposed to broadcast on ESPN Classic. But ESPN reneged on the MAC, and the game never aired to a national audience.

Central/Western is fast becoming the best rivalry in the state, now that both teams appear primed to spar for MAC supremacy for years to come. But even if both teams are terrible, the attendance always has been huge.

This game holds a lot of tradition. Central/Western weekend is a two-day holiday unto itself, a time that both Kalamazoo and Mount Pleasant prepare for weeks in advance.

It’s a time when both teams’ fans come together to party and have a good time the night before the game, then absolutely hate each other for the three hours the game is played out, only to spend that night partying and being friends again.

But that’s not going to happen this year in Kalamazoo. Western will be lucky to fill half its stadium, as alumni and community attendance for both schools is sure to be drastically down. Students will have class that night or Wednesday morning, so some won’t go. Others will go, but skip class to do so, which is a another reason this is a bad idea.

So what ESPN2 is going to have is a great rivalry played out in a poorly populated stadium. Sports fans across the nation will see that and wonder why ESPN2 is playing a MAC game that can’t fill its venue. CMU and Western both will come out looking like they can’t generate interest in their leading sport.

Of course, the Kalamazoo police and fire departments will be thrilled over this decision. Less people will get in trouble, and it saves them from spending more money on extra cops.

It’s really a win-lose situation on a number of different levels. But the unfortunate thing is that the students are the losers in this case, while the communities and MAC potentially could come out looking great.

Unfortunately, many diehard Central and Western fans are just going to have to live with watching the annual game on TV this year.

Let’s just hope this time ESPN holds up its end of the bargain.

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