Should MAC football return to Toronto?
Wake Forest and Syracuse will play the first FBS game in Canada since 2010. Should a MAC team also explore the possibility?
For the first time since the 2010 International Bowl, FBS football will return to Canada, as Wake Forest and Syracuse announced Thursday afternoon their 2027 conference tilt will take place at BMO Field, home of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer, for a Week 0 matchup.
The announcement was a great reminder of the Mid-American Conference's legacy north of the border; it is, after all, impossible to tell the short history of FBS football in Toronto without the MAC.
The MAC clashed with a Big East school every postseason in the International Bowl at Rogers Centre from 2006 to 2009. While the conference didn't experience a lot of success in the series, finishing 0-4, it was a significant game which ended lengthy postseason droughts for several MAC member schools.
In the 2007 edition, Western Michigan played in its first bowl since the 1988 California Bowl. The following year, the International Bowl was Ball State's first bowl since the 1996 Las Vegas Bowl.
Most notably, Buffalo played in the 2009 International Bowl for its first bowl appearance ever. This came fifty years after the program turned down an invitation to the Tangerine Bowl after the Orlando High School Athletic Association demanded Buffalo leave behind their Black players in order to play Florida State.
The MAC's history in Toronto was brief, but it was impactful. Hence, it is worth being nostalgic and considering the viability of MAC football in Toronto.
It is difficult to imagine most MAC schools sacrificing a home game to deal with the logistical hurdles of playing a game north of the border. However, Buffalo has a logical case to return to Toronto.
Buffalo is around 100 miles from Toronto, so the team could easily drive there unlike other conference destinations such as Ball State and Sacramento State. Buffalo could also make one of its future FCS games more attractive to fans by moving it to Toronto. The Bulls do not have any home games against Power Four schools that would generate local buzz in Toronto. However, they do host their 2009 International Bowl opponent, UConn in 2029. The nostalgia could be enough to create a respectable turnout.
Buffalo could also take the approach of Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan and move a weeknight game to Toronto. Although this approach is controversial, it is an approach to limit the sunk costs of weeknight MACtion by making it a "tentpole" event. Perhaps, moving the Flagship Cup with UMass would add some intrigue to the MAC's lone northeastern rivalry.
With one fewer bowl game at their disposal with the fall of the GameAboveSports Bowl in Detroit, the MAC has a golden opportunity at replacing that experience in the regular season. Buffalo could follow Syracuse and Wake Forest's lead and bring the MAC back to the 2000s in a good way.
