Central vs Western Michigan is a Great Football Rivalry – Did MACtion Ruin It?

There are some storied collegiate rivalries around Michigan. There's the Spartans and Wolverines. In West Michigan, if you know you know, it's Calvin vs Hope. And with the state's 'directional' schools, it's Central vs Western.

The Central Michigan Chippewas and the Western Michigan Broncos series dates back to 1907. Today, it's a trophy game with teams playing for the Victory Cannon.

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The 2024 edition of the CMU-WMU game is a Tuesday-nighter, part of the Mid American Conference's 'MACtion' series, which plays games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and are often the only football game on the national stage.

And that's the tradeoff that divides fans.

The Detroit Line Facebook page took to social media in a takedown of MACtion and how it may destroy tradition like the CMU-WMU rivalry.

In 2014, ESPN and the Mid American Conference agreed on a 13-year deal to televise games on Tuesdays or Wednesdays in November for $100M ($650k per school, per year)
Originally, the conference thought the increased visibility and the revenue stream would help their member schools. However, 'MACtion' has been a failure and has ruined historic rivalries like CMU/WMU.
The Central/Western rivalry started in 1907 and was always meant to be played at noon on a Saturday. This game is a weekend community event that the Mt. Pleasant and Kalamazoo economies desperately need. Hotels and restaurants were full the entire weekend, and 30,000+ fans got to witness the next chapter in the storied rivalry.
That was all taken away from us when the suits decided that money in their pocket was more important than the game or the local economy. Nobody will ever show up to see who lifts the victory cannon on a Tuesday night.

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We certainly know that college football is a business first. Some commented that the MAC, being a mid-major conference needs a cash infusion like what they get from the MACtion contract for the costs of operating a colligate athletic department - and arguably fielding teams in less profitable sports.

Others floated workable solutions like keeping traditional rivalries like Central-Western and others like Toledo-Bowling Green to Saturdays and having the non-rivalry games fill the midweek MACtion slate.

Still more shared that fans and families would be hard-pressed to make a cross-state trip on a weeknight/school night while students at the hosting school may go for the first part of the game and then need to leave by halftime.

One business owner did chime in on the Detroit Line's tread to talk about the difference in a midweek vs Saturday Central-Western game.

Absolutely terrible for the city of MP. My business and countless others see NOTHING from midweek games, however a home Saturday vs Western used to be one of the best days of our entire year. Tonight is just another Tuesday night in MP. Very sad.

It's not to say there haven't been some memorial CMU-WMU games as part of the MACtion slate. The 2022 edition of the Victory Cannon game was played in a blinding snowstorm in Mount Pleasant - and likely only went viral because it was the only game on the college football slate that evening. Here's what it looked like.

For better for worse, MACtion is and will likely continue to be 'a thing' for the Mid-American Conference and its member schools.