The commissioners of five college athletic conferences have asked the N.C.A.A. to relax some of its requirements because of financial problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a joint letter to the president of the N.C.A.A., Mark Emmert, the commissioners of the American Athletic, Mountain West, Mid-American and Sun Belt conferences and Conference USA asked for temporary relief for up to four years, calling this the “direst financial crisis for higher education since at least the Great Depression.”

“We felt that there were some common-sense things we would take up with the N.C.A.A,” said Mike Aresco, the commissioner of the American Athletic Conference, adding later, “We are looking at worst-case scenarios.”

Among their requests was for the N.C.A.A. to ease the requirement that they sponsor a minimum of 16 sports to be in the Football Bowl Subdivision. They also asked to waive the football attendance requirement, which requires colleges to average at least 15,000 people at all home football games, and to change scheduling requirements.