THE TOURNAMENTS ARE IN JEOPARDY.

Reality comes for the Mid-American Conference.  The non-revenue tournaments for the non-revenue sports are first to go.

Starting with the 2020-21 academic year, the league will not hold postseason tournaments for eight of its non-revenue sports: baseball, softball, men’s or women’s soccer, men’s or women’s tennis, women's lacrosse, or women's field hockey.

The league — the only Division I conference that still has divisions for basketball — also will eliminate its East Division-West Division format, play two more league games per season for a total of 20, and narrow its postseason field to eight teams.

Remaining tournaments in other sports will also limit participation to the high performers.

[Mid-American] schools are facing massive financial shortfalls during the next academic year. Western Michigan University is projecting losses as high as $85 million for next school year, while the University of Akron plans to cut six of its 11 academic colleges.

Ohio University laid off 140 employees and eliminated positions, and many other MAC schools are considering similar measures.

In its announcement Tuesday, the [conference] also made alterations to a number of other sports. Its volleyball tournament will be limited to four teams, swimming and diving championships for both men’s and women’s teams will now be a three-day event, and it will conduct its golf and track and field championships in two days for men’s and women’s teams.

For the moment, the two football divisions and the early December title game in Detroit, and weeknight games, will continue.