Yahoo Finance Ivy League cancels all spring sports due to coronavirus outbreak
The Ivy League has decided to cancel all athletic competition and practice for the spring semester due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The conference announced the decision on Wednesday, saying the Ivy League Presidents came to the conclusion unanimously. The Ivy League consists of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale.
“With further developments in the outbreak of COVID-19, the Ivy League Presidents are announcing their unanimous decision to cancel all spring athletics practice and competition through the remainder of the academic year,” the league said in a press release.
The decision affects sports like baseball, lacrosse and softball and also cancels spring football practice.
The Ivy League previously canceled both of its conference basketball tournaments, a decision that resulted in the regular season champions in both men’s and women’s basketball earning a berth to the NCAA tournament. Those schools — Yale in men’s basketball and Princeton in women’s basketball — will decide whether or not to participate.
“Individual institutions will decide whether or not winter teams and student-athletes who have qualified for postseason play will participate,” the Ivy League’s press release said.
Several Ivy League schools already announced that they will not allow students to return to campus after spring break and will only hold classes online. That decision made it “not feasible for practice and competition to continue,” the conference said.
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