Ivy League Cancels Fall Sports Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The Ivy League announced Wednesday that it is canceling its fall sports season amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

According to the league's statement, "A decision on the remaining winter and spring sports competition calendar, and on whether fall sport competition would be feasible in the spring, will be determined at a later date."

The Ivy League announced March 10 it was cancelling its men's and women's basketball tournaments. At the time, the conference received some pushback because the pandemic hadn't yet reached its current proportions.

However, the move looked prescient as more conferences followed in bringing their tournaments to a premature end to limit the spread of the coronavirus. On March 12, the NCAA scrapped the remaining winter championships and the spring season altogether.

The hope was that the pandemic would slow enough during the summer so as not to jeopardize the upcoming fall sports season.

Instead, the number of cases have trended upward. According to the World Health Organization, the United States is the leader in both cases (2.9 million) and deaths (129,963) from the coronavirus.

The NCAA Division I Council allowed programs to resume voluntary on-campus workouts on a limited basis for football and basketball starting June 1. Since then, numerous schools have reported positive cases.

The Ivy League's decision is a somewhat ominous sign for the fate of the 2020 college football season, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 29.