Ivy League Postpones Football Season

The rumored scenario of the Ivy League moving its football season to the spring could be in the works. The academically renowned coalition announced Wednesday it is postponing its fall sports calendar.

“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 league’s statement read.

Not too many Ivy Leaguers move on to NFL careers, but this decision could have ripple effects for Division I-FBS conferences. The Power 5 programs are not expected to make a final decision on the viability of fall football amid the COVID-19 pandemic for a few weeks, but the Pac-12 has already discussed the prospect of playing in the spring.

This would certainly be a seismic change for the sport, but upon facing massive revenue losses, schools will opt for spring football before cancelling seasons. Should Division I-FBS conferences postpone their seasons until the spring, in hopes the coronavirus will be under control in the country by then, it will affect the NFL. Top prospects will have little offseason time to recover in advance of the 2021 NFL season, and the NFL draft may commence before the college campaign ends. Currently, the NFL is against moving its draft to accommodate college teams playing football in the spring.