Ivy League Football: Another Coronavirus Casualty?

If one can look past the death, loneliness, and economic ruination ("Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"), one benefit of the coronavirus is that individuals and organizations of all shapes and sizes are seeing more clearly what is important to them.

For example, the Ivy League is ready to drop football, at least for this season:

Calvin Hill (Yale '69) was in multiple
Pro Bowls a half century ago.

everyone is bracing for the prospect that the Ivy League is going to take a pass on football this fall.

Officials from the Ivy League will announce on Wednesday the status of athletics for the 2020-21 academic year. The best-case scenario is that fall sports will shift their competitions to the spring of 2021. At worst, fall sports will be called off with no chance for seniors to recoup their lost year of eligibility...

Unlike teams in the top tier of the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Ivy League does not bring in millions from ticket sales or nine-figure television deals. There’s less revenue at stake if games don’t happen. Other small conferences have the same situation...

all face the specter of elevated costs that accompany testing athletes frequently. Broad public health guidelines from the NCAA suggest that athletes should be tested at least once per week. Frequent testing is potentially a $100,000 addition to a budget.

No single activity is essential to the college experience, as the coronavirus has proved. One need not reside in a dorm, or participate in-person in an advanced seminar, or play poker all night, or eat in the dining hall, or join a fraternity, or study in one of many campus libraries, or do the laundry needing a roll of quarters, or cheer for Old Blue together with thousands of students and alumni, but eventually it stops being "college".

And whatever it is certainly isn't worth $40,000 a year in tuition.

Note: Ivy League teams are not competitive against the major football conferences, but 22 graduates made the cut at the beginning of the NFL's 2019 season.