The Mountain West will play an eight-game football season starting the weekend of Oct. 24, the conference announced Thursday night.

League presidents met Thursday and voted to start the fall season, which had been postponed Aug. 10 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Mountain West championship game will take place Dec. 19, a day before the College Football Playoff selections.

The season and the ability to have fans in attendance are subject to approval from state and local public health officials.

"Our student-athletes have voiced their desire to compete, and it is the Board's shared opinion that football can be conducted with appropriate mitigation," conference chair Dr. Mary Papazian, San Jose State president, said in a statement released Friday. "We continue to learn more about the virus each day and will continue to monitor the pandemic moving forward. We will be ready to change course if necessary should new information come forth, or we feel an appropriate environment cannot be sustained on our campuses."

The Mountain West has three schools in California, where state and local regulations on gatherings had been restrictive until recently. New Mexico and Hawaii have had similar restrictions. As of Thursday afternoon, San Jose State had not submitted a return-to-play plan to Santa Clara County, which is required to be approved before the Spartans can resume practice, the county said in a statement to ESPN.

However, all teams will try to play on the conference's timeline, a source told ESPN.

The Mountain West became the second league Thursday to approve a fall season, as Pac-12 presidents approved a seven-game slate beginning Nov. 6.

"This is a great opportunity to get our student-athletes back on the field of competition in a cautious and regulated fashion," Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said in a statement.

The Mountain West has partnered with Quest Diagnostics for daily rapid antigen testing, which many medical experts say can limit outbreaks and ease some of the obstacles of contact tracing. The Pac-12 and Big Ten plan to implement daily antigen testing at all of their campuses.

"The health and well-being of our student-athletes continue to guide all decisions," Papazian said. "The availability of rapid testing addresses one of the main concerns that was expressed by our Board, the MW Health and Safety Advisory Committee, as well as by student-athletes and coaches."

Mountain West teams will immediately transition to 20 hours per week of athletic activities and begin preseason practices, where allowed, by the weekend.

The Mid-American Conference, the only FBS league without a fall season in place, will have a presidents meeting Friday where a vote on a season is expected, sources said. The MAC, which on Aug. 8 became the first league to postpone the fall football season, is considering a six-game season to begin in November.