KALAMAZOO, MI - By the time Colgate reaches Waldo Stadium for its 2020 college football season opener against Western Michigan, the Raiders will be a road-weary bunch.
That’s because Colgate’s conference, the Patriot League, announced this week that none of its member teams will be permitted to fly to competitions and, with rare exceptions, regular-season contests will exclude overnight travel.
Those travel restrictions were part of the guidelines set forth on Monday in the conference's response plan to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
The bus trip from the upstate New York university to Kalamazoo spans 590 miles and just over nine hours, making an overnight stay a necessity for the Friday, Sept. 4 kickoff.
It will be worth watching to see how the Football Championship Subdivision program handles its nonconference schedule, which also includes a Week 2 trip to Virginia-based William 8 Mary -- an eight-hour drive from Colgate.
According to a report from Syracuse.com, Colgate's plan for its athletic teams won't be announced until it reaches a decision on how to proceed with classes for the Fall 2020 semester.
“The Colgate Department of Athletics is aware of today’s announcement from the Patriot League Council of Presidents regarding the development of a Fall 2020 Athletics Plan,” the university said in a statement to Syracuse.com. “Colgate University has not yet announced its decision for course instruction in the Fall of 2020. Any decisions and/or comments concerning Colgate’s fall athletics program will follow that larger campus announcement.”
WMU's other nonconference road games for 2020 include relatively short trips to Cincinnati in Week 2 (298 miles) and to Notre Dame in Week 3 (70 miles).
Syracuse rounds out the Broncos' nonconference schedule with a Week 4 contest at Waldo Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has yet to place any similar travel restrictions, and the league’s expansive footprint ranging from Miami in the south to Syracuse in the north make air travel almost essential.
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League mandate means 9-hour bus ride for WMU football’s Week 1 opponent - MLive.com
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