The Ivy League cancels football and all other sports for the fall semester

[brooklynite]

Source: CNN

(CNN)Don't expect Ivy League sports this fall due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Ivy League Council of Presidents said Wednesday that all fall sports, including football, will not be played at its colleges, to include Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

"With the information available to us today regarding the continued spread of the virus, we simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk, consistent with the policies that each of our schools is adopting as part of its reopening plans this fall," the Ivy League Council said in a statement.

The announcement makes the Ivy League the first Division I conference to drop out of the upcoming college football season. A number of other schools in lower divisions have already dropped out, such as the entire Division III Centennial Conference, which includes Johns Hopkins, McDaniel and other schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

A decision on the future of winter or spring sports and whether fall sports could be played in the spring of 2021 will be "determined at a later date," the Ivy League said in a news release.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/08/us/ivy-league-football-cancel-covid-19-spt-trnd/index.html

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My niece was a varsity rower as a Freshman. This'll be problematic if things don't get better by spring.

[Demovictory9]

1. do athletes keep their scholarships?

[jmowreader]

2. I also wonder about eligibility

[Eugene]

4. Ivy League schools don't grant athletic scholarships.

https://apnews.com/968faf851a0d42f82780168ec57d4733

At any rate, they are hoping for a short-term (Spring 2021) postponement.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. I had no idea!

One of my nephews graduated near the top of his high school class, and he was also an all-star center for their football team.

My sister said that Yale offered to pay for his education (which I assumed meant a scholarship) if he played for them.

I heard it from her, not my nephew, so there was probably a misunderstanding by her.

He received an academic scholarship elsewhere and turned down their supposed offer.

He said that didn't want to play football anymore, gaining a bunch of weight in the process, and he'd mostly played because his idiot father pushed him onto it.

Edit: I now know to NOT repeat what my sister had told me. I already knew that she's undependable with details sometimes.

[CTyankee]

12. I'm no expert but I know some folks at Yale and I have never heard of such a thing happening.

My understanding is that if Yale wants you and you cannot pay, they will adjudge what you can or cannot pay and offer a scholarship so you can attend.

[PaulRevere08]

13. All scholarships at Ivy League schools are need based. However, coaches are given

certain leeway in their recruiting. If there is an athlete, who would not get in ordinarily, but meets other criteria they can be offered admission. The number of these slots depends on the sport but they are coveted. The challenge for Ivy coaches is that once admitted, the student has no obligation to be on a team. They can quit at any time they want and there is nothing the coach can do about it.

I coached at a Div 1 school, my eldest was an elite athlete at an Ivy school and the youngest is on a Div 3 team as well. Got to learn a lot about recruiting.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. No surpise, really.

But the questions about athletes' scholarship and eligibility are good ones.

[totodeinhere]

6. Yes, it would apply to other leagues that do offer scholarships.

I would really hope that they can continue to offer scholarships. But it can be a cutthroat business. My nephew had a career ending injury in practice when he was a sophomore, and his scholarship only lasted through the end of that academic year. Then he was out in the cold.

[totodeinhere]

5. All other football leagues, amateur and professional, need to follow suit.

Human health and human life itself are much more important than any sports.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. I expect that most sports won't be happening any time real soon.

I know baseball is saying it's going to start later this month, but somehow I'll be surprised if that happens.

Likewise basketball.

Pro football stands a distant chance of games being played. A distant chance.

These are of course only my opinions. I have zero connection to any professional sport, other than sometimes getting a bit interested when one of my home town teams is doing well.

All of the sports involve varying numbers of people being in close contact with each other. All it would take is one infected person and kazaam! Everyone on both teams is now infected. If and only if you could keep all players and the support people (coaches, whatever) isolated for the entire season would there be any hope of avoiding serious contagion.

Although, I'd be slightly interested in watching any one of these sports played in an empty stadium/field/court. It would be weird enough as a viewer. I bet it would be surreal for the players.

Added on edit: I wouldn't be too surprised if this is something of a death for professional sports.

[Journeyman]

9. I understand the teams are looking into new uniforms to encourage social distancing . . .

A bit inelegant, yes, but far better than the hamster balls they were considering earlier in the pandemic:

[totodeinhere]

14. Most of the highly paid professional athletes will be fine regardless.

But I feel sorry for the little guy who works at an athletic stadium who loses his or her job.

[McKim]

8. Maybe It's a Good Thing

Maybe this is a good thing for America. Maybe people are beginning to pay attention to more important matters like educating people or participating in BLM or other things of substance. They will have more time to think about things. I think the end of sports will be good for America. They were a distraction.

[pstokely]

10. Ivy League schools aren't sports driven

the Power Five conferences will probably announce their plans at the last minute

[Baclava]

15. Ivy league offers 35 varsity sports, more than most other Division I conferences, the SEC has 21

"The league offers 35 varsity sports, more than most other Division I conferences. The Southeastern Conference, or SEC, offers 21 sports, and the Big 12 offers 23, according to the conferences’ websites"

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/09/ivy-league-will-not-play-fall-sports-2020

[pstokely]

16. Ivy League sports don't have big TV deals

nt