Thanks to the Patriot League, the Ivy League has some FCS company.
Earlier this month, the Ivy League confirmed that football and other fall sports have been postponed. Football could be moved to the spring, although such an issue won’t be taken up until after the end of the fall semester.
Less than a week later, the Patriot League announced that it too has shutdown fall sports in the conference. That, of course, includes football. “Decisions surrounding winter and spring sport competition will be made at a later date,” the release from the FCS conference stated.
The league added that "[t]he opportunity for conditioning, strength training and other practice opportunities in all sports will be permitted provided health and safety conditions support such activities.”
“The collegiate athletics experience at all Patriot League institutions is valuable to fulfilling our educational and developmental missions, and the League recognizes that any degree of non-competition this fall is deeply disappointing to our student-athletes, coaches, and fans,” the Patriot League stated. “However, the health and safety of our campuses and communities must be our highest priority.
“The League is committed to exploring creative approaches and alternatives to providing future competitive experiences to our fall sport student-athletes, including the possibility of conducting fall sport competition and championships in the second semester.”
The move is far from a surprise. Over the past couple of weeks, it was confirmed that at least three football games pitting teams from that conference against FBS foes had been canceled -- Western Michigan-Colgate (HERE), Navy-Lafayette College (HERE), Hawaii-Fordham (HERE). The reason for the cancelations? The Patriot League mandated late last month that all of its member schools are not permitted to travel by air or stay overnight in another locale.
Syracuse will also be looking for a Sept. 19 game as the ACC school was scheduled to open its home slate against Colgate that date. That, of course, will depend on the decision the Orange’s conference makes later this month, though.