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Until Monday, the Missouri Valley Conference had been taking a wait and see approach.
The conference had not yet made a decision about what to do with fall sports competitions. Now, the Bears and their opponents have a plan in place.
“September 18 is the start date,” said Missouri State Director of Athletics, Kyle Moats. “Everybody can return to school and start practice August 17.”
The Valley’s Presidents Council voted to push sports competitions back to September 18. The move also includes a move to conference-only schedules for men’s & women’s soccer and volleyball.
Perhaps the biggest detail of the decision is the sport it doesn’t include, with football still scheduled to start its season on time. That’s because the Missouri Valley Football Conference is governed separately from the regular MVC.
It means Bobby Petrino’s Bears are still set to open the season August 29 at Oklahoma.
“We want to wait until the very end. We’re going to wait until the Big 12, the ACC and the SEC makes their decision,” Moats said. “We’re not going to get out in front of the. Once they make their decision then we’ll make our decision.”
The trip to OU is a $600,000 payday for Missouri State, but Moats says the school is prepared if it loses that game from the schedule.
“From day one, I’ve factored that we probably weren’t going to play this game from a money standpoint. So, if we get it that would be great, we are certainly hoping that we get it, but we’ve done our financials not thinking we’re going to get the game because I always look at things worst case scenario from a financial standpoint,” Moats said.
The game at Oklahoma is four weeks from this coming Saturday.
Saturday is also the same day Bears football is scheduled to begin team practice.
