Ivy League Cancelled All Winter Sports for the 2020-21 Season

The Ivy League Council of Presidents unanimously decided to cancel all winter sports for the 2020-21 season and postponed spring sports until the end of February 2021.

It is the first Division-I conference to nix winter sports, repeating a precedent it set earlier this year when the league canceled fall sports. 

According to CBS Sports's Matt Norlander, league presidents held their vote earlier this week, and coaches were informed by athletic department officials on Thursday evening. This decision comes 13 days before the scheduled start of the college basketball season

Fall and winter student-athletes will not lose a season of Ivy League or NCAA eligibility, the league said in a statement.

"Student-athletes, their families and coaches are again being asked to make enormous sacrifices for the good of public health—and we do not make this decision lightly," the Ivy League Council of Presidents said. "While these decisions come with great disappointment and frustration, our commitment to the safety and lasting health of our student-athletes and wider communities must remain our highest priority."

The news comes as the Unites States has set COVID-19 records almost daily in the past week. The COVID Tracking Project showed more than 144,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, topping Tuesday's U.S. record of 136,000-plus cases. Wednesday's update reported 65,368 COVID-19 hospitalizations—another United States record.