Earlier today, the Ivy League Council announced that it is canceling all competition for the 2020-21 winter athletic season. Practices will continue to be allowed, provided that they are in compliance with federal, state, local, and institutional COVID-19 policies. 

The announcement comes as a third surge of COVID-19 cases sweeps across the country. In the statement, the Council announced that in addition to winter sports being cancelled, competition for spring sports is tentatively postponed through the end of February 2021. Earlier in the year, the Council had considered having fall sports compete in the spring, but with this announcement came the decision that fall sports will not compete at any point this academic year.

The Council is continuing to monitor the growth of the pandemic, and if the situation changes and they feel it is safe, there is a possibility that spring sports may be allowed to compete. Fall and winter sport athletes will not lose a season of NCAA eligibility.

The Ivy League is currently the only Division I sports league to have canceled winter sports, with many other schools currently planning to hold competitions despite skyrocketing numbers of cases. The last few weeks have been marked by record-breaking numbers of cases and hospitalizations in the United States, with an unprecedented reported 150,526 new cases today.

The Ivy League Council of Presidents released 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. 

view of campus via Bwog archives