The Ivy League has cancelled all fall sports for 2020, including football.
The league informed its members of the decision this afternoon.
Sources: Ivy League programs have been informed that fall sports have been cancelled.
The conference will not entertain any sports being played until after January 1st.
Winter sports will have an update in mid-July on their respective practice schedules.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 8, 2020
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The question now becomes: is this only an Ivy League thing or are they simply the first domino to fall during the coronavirus situation?
One thought seems to be that if colleges are closed, they likely won’t have fall sports.
Here are some quotes via ESPN:
There won’t be any decisions to make, though, if campuses aren’t open this fall.
“It’s very unlikely that we would play fall sports — highly unlikely we would play fall sports — if we didn’t have our students back on campus,” said American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco. “If our presidents and chancellors didn’t feel it was safe to have our students on campus, it’s very hard to see college sports happening in the fall.”
As powerful as the Power 5 commissioners are, university presidents have been pushed to the forefront of the decision-making processes. Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk told ESPN last week that the Patriot League presidents “pay an awful lot of attention to decisions that are made within the Ivy League.”
“Whatever the Ivy League does, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Patriot League gives it very serious consideration,” said Gladchuk, whose school is in the Patriot League for all sports except football. “It’d be typical of the way we’ve operated in the past.”
Heppel said the presidents’ response to the Ivy League announcement will carry significant weight not only within her conference but across the country.
“Yes, our presidents watch,” she said of the Patriot League, “but I would also argue that nationally presidents watch the Ivy League. Athletics directors and commissioners might not, but presidents are certainly looking at what the president at Harvard is doing.”
