The Ivy League announced that they will cancel all winter sports for the 2020-21 season. In addition to postponing all spring sports through February 2021.The announcement comes less than two weeks before the permitted start date for NCAA basketball contests on Nov 25.
The decisions were unanimous by the Ivy League Council of Presidents, who also announced that fall sports will no longer have competition in the spring, as originally anticipated. These efforts all come in an effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic regionally and nationally.
Fall and winter student athletes will not lose a year of eligibility due to the decision. The NCAA granted all currently enrolled student athletes an additional year regardless of their class. At this time, student athletes are still allowed to workout and train with their teams as long as they follow guidelines and procedures implemented by their respective schools and states.
The Ivy League Council of Presidents issued the following statement:
Throughout the last nine months, we have asked our campus communities to make extraordinary adjustments in order to do our part in combating the global pandemic and to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our students, faculty members, staff and the communities in which they live and work.
Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner.
Student-athletes, their families and coaches are again being asked to make enormous sacrifices for the good of public health — and we do not make this decision lightly. While these decisions come with great disappointment and frustration, our commitment to the safety and lasting health of our student-athletes and wider communities must remain our highest priority.
We look forward to the day when intercollegiate athletics — which are such an important part of the fabric of our campus communities — will safely return in a manner and format we all know and appreciate.
The Ivy League was the first Division I conference to cancel fall sports in 2020.
