Ohio-Central Michigan, one of the first MAC games back, was interrupted by a power outage

The return of the MAC Wednesday night hit some technical difficulties. ESPN’s networks aired two #MACtion games Wednesday, with Ohio-Central Michigan airing on ESPN proper and Buffalo-Northern Illinois airing on ESPN2. But that Ohio-Central Michigan game wound up in a significant delay thanks to a power outage at Central Michigan’s stadium. Here’s how that happened, including the ESPN broadcast first losing video (and going to a red screen) and then audio, then eventually just going to a laser tag commercial:

The MACtion disappears on the ESPN broadcast. pic.twitter.com/xEwS6Qnyzy

— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) November 5, 2020

And here’s how the broadcast came back after a few minutes of commercials, with play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown (who was calling the game from ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut studios alongside analyst Mike Golic Jr., with field analyst QUint Kessenich the only one on scene in Mount Pleasant, Michigan) informing viewers what was going on. That clip also saw shots of the band members dancing with the lights on their cellphones, and featured the teams heading to the locker room for an early halftime.

And then we learn after the commercial break that the power went out. #MACtion pic.twitter.com/dRveUnA31Y

— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) November 5, 2020

Here’s a photo Kessenich tweeted on what this looked like from the sidelines:

Maction 2020
Power Outage in Mount Pleasant
Ohio at CMU
ESPN pic.twitter.com/opm1x8HiED

— Quint Kessenich (@QKessenich) November 5, 2020

Here’s Kessenich’s report from after the half, discussing how the video board stayed on, but the stadium lights went off and needed time to warm up:

The game then got back underway, so #MACtion may be back on the menu. But this was certainly an unfortunate disruption to the MAC’s return.

[Matt Clapp on Twitter]