NEW YORK (AP) — For the second straight year the Ivy League will not hold a spring sports conference season, the school presidents announced Thursday.
The Ivy League presidents wrote in a joint statement that they decided to cancel the spring sports seasons to be consistent with the schools’ measures to protect everyone on campus.
“The public health measures now in effect at all Ivy League universities have been carefully designed to support our teaching and research missions while keeping our students, faculty, staff and neighboring communities safe,” the presidents said. “In the Ivy League, these measures must apply equally to our athletics programs along with other academic and co-curricular activities.”
While there won’t be any league competitions or championships, the presidents would allow the eight schools to participate in local non-conference games that are within 40 miles if the coronavirus pandemic greatly improves.
There are five phases the league has set and schools would have to meet the standards to be eligible to compete. How schools progress through those phases are determined by campus and state health policies.
No school has reached the third phase yet. Most of the eight schools don’t even have all their spring athletes on campus.
“As campus and community leaders, we believe that our public health responsibilities and educational principles preclude us from sponsoring Ivy League athletics competition this spring,” the presidents wrote. “We regret the many sacrifices that have been required in response to the pandemic, and we appreciate the resilience of our student-athletes, coaches and staff in the face of adversity during this difficult and unusual year.”
This is the fourth straight season of sports that the Ivy League has canceled due to COVID-19. Spring athletes have now missed two consecutive years of competition. The Ivy League, just like the winter season, is the only Division I conference not offering spring sports, according to the NCAA.
The Ivies have given up their automatic qualifiers to NCAA spring sports championships.
The Ivy League presidents did offer a one-time waiver last week allowing senior s who attend grad school at their current institution to compete next year.
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