oldude
bamboo lover
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Today the Ivy League announced their decision to cancel fall sports, leaving open the possibility of moving sports like football to the spring semester. Winter sports like basketball will not be permitted to start before January 1, although athletes may use university facilities to train. This may or may not be a harbinger of things to come for college sports across the nation. With Covid-19 cases surging in football hotbeds like TX, FL and other states, there is a great deal of uncertainty around the country right now.
All the Ivies are sitting on billion-dollar endowments, so they are much better insulated to weather a shortfall in revenue from enrollment, fees and other sources than most colleges and universities. In addition, the prestige of the Ancient 8 makes it unlikely that future applications will drop off, if and when things return to normal.
I had expected the Ivies to lead the way on football and fall sports, just as they lead the way as the first conference to cancel their post-season basketball tournament on March 10. In many ways, Ivy League sports are unique. There are no athletic scholarships, no post-season football games and Ivy Leaguers do not generally leave school early for the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, etc. While teams generate modest revenue from local tv, ticket and merchandise sales, most of the funding for Ivy League sports comes from significant donations from well-heeled alumni.
Time will tell whether this decision by the Ivy League is simply an outlier, or the “canary in the coal mine.”
All the Ivies are sitting on billion-dollar endowments, so they are much better insulated to weather a shortfall in revenue from enrollment, fees and other sources than most colleges and universities. In addition, the prestige of the Ancient 8 makes it unlikely that future applications will drop off, if and when things return to normal.
I had expected the Ivies to lead the way on football and fall sports, just as they lead the way as the first conference to cancel their post-season basketball tournament on March 10. In many ways, Ivy League sports are unique. There are no athletic scholarships, no post-season football games and Ivy Leaguers do not generally leave school early for the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, etc. While teams generate modest revenue from local tv, ticket and merchandise sales, most of the funding for Ivy League sports comes from significant donations from well-heeled alumni.
Time will tell whether this decision by the Ivy League is simply an outlier, or the “canary in the coal mine.”