Is College Football Doomed? Ivy League Pushes Fall Sports to the Spring

The smartest people to ever live have helped shape man kind in many great ways. But they are still nerds. And I don’t mean cool nerds. Like your bro who enjoys Star Wars or a good Middle Earth marathon. Or even one who can understand the complex jokes that make up Rick and Morty and still laugh at the fart jokes.

I mean nerds, the people who we always joked in elementary school were sad during a snow day because school was cancelled. The type of people who think calculus is a walk in the park. And at the same time, it pretzel’s my brain.

And that is why I make this bombshell announcement, that the Ivy League, a conference and legion of schools who have molded young boys into the men who would shape our country and the world, sucks.

Sources: Ivy League programs have been informed that fall sports have been cancelled.

The conference will not entertain any sports being played until after January 1st.

Winter sports will have an update in mid-July on their respective practice schedules.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 8, 2020

The Ivy League is the first Division I conference to postone fall sports until at least the spring of 2021 https://t.co/CZZkYuIyQg

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 8, 2020

A few days ago, it was expected that the conference would vote this way. Today the news came down that they have postponed fall athletics, with no date yet set as a return.

That means no field hockey, no cross country, no squash (not sure this is a fall sport but it’s not like you know either) and most importantly football.

Almighty college football is now definitely up in the air and hanging in the balance for the 2020 season.

Now you might be saying, “Woah slow down dude, it’s only the Ivy League canceling football, wake me up when the SEC begins to worry.” And I would say this should be your wake up call.

The Ivy League was the first basketball postseason tournament to postpone action. At the time, it seemed like a hasty, rash decision. But as everything has played out, we now realize they were way ahead of the curve on this pandemic and sports being impossible to play.

Now it seems like they’re doing the same. They’re pushing back football until at least the spring of 2021 without a set return date. But what if these god damn nerds are right again and they’re just superior in knowledge of this pandemic than the rest of us?

It’s a terrifying thought, no college football this fall. Those grey skies in October and November, Saturday’s will feel hollow and empty. We will curse, kick and scream as the weather turns colder for no good reason. Thanksgiving will just be food and family, who in the hell wants that?

In all seriousness, schools and many collegiate sports rely on college football. Football and mens basketball are the only two self sustaining sports across the country. And without the behemoth that is football, many schools will be forced to fold up shop on their more minor sports teams.

Not only that but many local economies rely on those handful of Saturday’s a year to keep small businesses open. This isn’t the NFL where those teams are already in big time markets that can easily sustain themselves. Many of these towns are only what they are because of the school and because of football.

I keep trying to think of positives to this. Schedules will get flipped upside down. All of a sudden, Miami’s trip to East Lansing to face Michigan State early in the season turns from a gorgeous 75 degree, September day into a sleet driven, 34 degree game in March.

And it could be fun. Think about it. To go straight from the college football playoff and championship game into the NFL Draft a couple of weeks later is a cool feeling.

All jokes, or optimistic thoughts aside, I am somewhat concerned with the eventuality that this news brings. It is a serious development. Plus, it’s one of the real first dominoes to fall about whether or not we get college football this season. I really hope the Ivy League ends up looking like the Squidward meme of watching Spongebob and Patrick having fun without him.

But I can’t help but think that maybe once again they’re ahead of the curve on this one and we are in for a dull autumn with Saturday’s filled with apple picking instead of college football.

Connor Ryan (@connoryan68/@PodVerbalCommit)