When the topic of China is brought up in the context of college athletics, one will typically think of the Pac-12’s various initiatives overseas or perhaps the thought of Jim Harbaugh eating dim sum for his next adventure with his football team.
It’s time to associate another big brand name with the far east however: the Ivy League.
As announced by the school on Tuesday, the Penn Quakers will travel to Shanghai from March 2-9, 2019 as part of the team’s spring practice. They will conclude their trip with an actual game (well, more like a scrimmage) against an all-star team from the American Football League of China.
“Our strong engagement with China is at the core of the University’s global initiatives,” Penn provost Wendell Pritchett said in a release. “We are proud that our outstanding Penn athletes will be joining the many students, faculty, and staff members who take part in our rich variety of programs. In particular, our Penn Wharton China Center, in the heart of Beijing’s central business district, has become a vibrant home for research, learning, and on-the-ground support for all members of the Penn community in China.”
The 2019 Penn-China Global Ambassadors Bowl, as this thing is being called, is not just about the university’s “global initiatives” however -- there’s actual spring practices for the Quakers involved similar to what Michigan has done in two trips to Europe. The team will also host several youth and young adult football clinics while they are in the country and naturally get some sightseeing done in both Shanghai and Beijing before returning to the states.
It sure seems as though these trips are becoming more and more of a regular occurrence in college football and if Ivy League teams are jumping onto the bandwagon in China, it surely can’t be too much longer before others like the Pac-12 will start regularly making the long, long trip to Asia in the future.
Who knows, maybe it’s time to start thinking about bringing back the old Mirage Bowl and updating it for 2018 in the process.