Will Ivy League postponing sports until 2021 affect major college football?

The Ivy League cancels fall sports, leaving major college football in limbo.

The Ivy League won’t have fall sports in 2020 because of the global pandemic.

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, the “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.”

This shouldn’t come as all that much of a surprise, as the eight Ivy League member institutions tend to do things their own way, prioritizing academics over athletics for centuries. So while we won’t be able to see teams like the Cornell Big Red or the Penn Quakers play on the gridiron this season, should we be worried about who this will impact major Division I college football?

Did The Ivy League set the precedent for how fall sports will go in DI?

While one Power 5 athletic director said, “everyone is pessimistic” regarding an on-time start, how sure are we that blanket statement of negativity speaks for everyone? Another administrator said on the Ivy League’s impending decision regarding fall sports, “I don’t think people understand how that (decision) simply doesn’t affect us.”

So what we’re seeing here is some athletic directors are more optimistic about the fall than others. Again, that’s totally normal, but then again, nothing will be normal for the rest of the calendar year. All we know is there won’t be a vaccine in time and we will have to learn to manage living in the world with the coronavirus as best as we can.

“We said from the onset of this pandemic that circumstances around the virus would guide our decision-making, and it is clear recent developments related to COVID-19 have not been trending in the right direction.” said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey.

“There are important decisions to be made in the coming weeks and by late July there should be more clarity about the fall season. In the meantime, our athletics programs will continue to effectively manage the health and safety of our student-athletes as they continue voluntary activities on their respective campuses.”

What we should expect is every Power 5 conference, every Group of 5 conference and every national independent at the FBS level to come to the right decision for them. While it would be shocking to not see college football in the Big 12 or SEC, then Big Ten and the ACC may have a few programs not participate, while the Pac-12 could sit out the entire season.

All we know is The Ivy League is not playing and Division I football will have to adjust accordingly.

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