Could the Ivy League’s decision to shut down all fall sports pave the way for larger schools to do the same?
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the United States, the Ivy League was the first conference to cancel its basketball tournament. Though the move seemed extreme to some, other conferences and March Madness soon followed. on Wednesday, the Ivy League has decided to shut down all fall sports–including football–with no time table for a return.
That means the schools who help found college football will assess the situation concerning the pandemic in January and decide whether or not to play football in the spring. Winter sports like basketball won’t begin until January either.
The Ivy League is an insulated conference. They are built for this in many ways. Though Ivy League football technically competes at the FCS level, they do not participate in the FCS football tournament, so there is no logistic issue with that. They play a 10 game schedule with no bye-week in between.
They would lose their two non-conference games, but they rarely play any “big money” games. If football resumed in January, the Ivy League would likely play only their eight-game conference schedule.
Spring college football isn’t unheard of.
If football is played in spring, that’s not foreign in college football history. Its roots began in spring. One of the more prominent rivalry games in college football began to take shape in the spring of 1891. March 19, 1892, Stanford and California played what is now known as “The Big Game.”
One of the oldest rivalries east of the Mississippi–Auburn/Georgia–played their first game on Saturday, February 20, 1892, in celebration of George Washington’s birthday. If we get college football in January instead of September; remember, it’s happened before.
The Ivy League’s decision is about student safety. With the novel coronavirus spiking once again in the United States with over 60,000 new cases reported in the US in the last 24 hours. Ironically, two football hotbeds–California and Texas–are two of three states responsible for nearly half the new cases in the United States.
University administrators have to ask themselves a simple question. “Is playing worth the risk?” With the increase of new cases and so much unknown surrounding the virus, the answer might be no. Though young athletes are least susceptible to the virus, the after-effects are unclear.
Basketball player Rudy Gobert has lingering effects from his bout with the virus beginning in July. With so much new information, discretion just might be the better part of valor. Especially with the news of teams shutting down voluntary workouts with so many positive COVID tests.
With the Big Ten announcing on Thursday they are moving to a conference-only schedule and other leagues reportedly expected to follow their lead, the Ivy League is once again out in front as they were when they pulled the plug on college basketball in March before other leagues followed.
This has been building for weeks with programs suspending workouts across the country.
The Kansas Jayhawks suspended voluntary workouts after 12 players tested positive for COVID-19. Their interstate rivals the Kansas State Wildcats also suspended voluntary workouts after 14 players tested positive for COVID-19. The University of Houston suspended workouts as well after six players texted positive for the virus.
At UCLA, players are demanding extra protections citing they do not feel the University has their best interests in mind and want an independent third party to test players. It’s hard for college football to centralize their operations because they do not have a central governing body.
They can’t do what both the NBA and WNBA are doing at Disney; there are 130 teams in Division I football. That does not include Division II, NAIA, or Division III.
Delaying until spring could give more data about the virus, a possible vaccine, or even better treatment options. Maybe, just maybe, the FBS should follow the Ivy League’s lead and wait until spring.
They’ve played in spring before, this time they’d be doing it for a far more important reason, protecting student-athletes.