Ivy League to Compete in FCS Football Playoffs
Credit: Fred Kfoury III / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images- The Ivy League Council of Presidents voted to allow its members to compete in the FCS football playoffs beginning in the 2025 season.
- The league had banned football postseason play since its founding in 1954 and was the only FCS conference to prohibit playoff participation.
- Several Ivy students spearheaded the effort to change the league’s policy.
- This change reflects a shifting landscape in which student-athletes are gaining rights.
On Jan. 6, the North Dakota State University Bison defeated the Montana State University Bobcats in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) title game, winning their tenth title in the past 14 seasons.
If the Bison want to extend their dynasty next season, they may have to beat a contender from a new tournament participant – the Ivy League.
In yet another example of the rapidly evolving collegiate athletic landscape, the Ivy League has voted to allow postseason play for its football teams.
Beginning with the 2025 season, Ivy League schools will be eligible to compete in the FCS playoffs.
This change, while not nearly as consequential as players nationwide being paid through name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities and by booster-led collectives, along with the strong potential of athletes unionizing and gaining employee status, nevertheless signals a radical change whereby players are gaining an upper hand in how college athletics operate.
In this case, the change stems from a proposal brought by Ivy League students — not by university presidents or athletic administrators.
Over the past two years, the Ivy League Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) — led by Mason Shipp, a football player at Yale University; Leah Carey, a softball player at Brown University; and Chloe Maister, a lacrosse player at Cornell University — has pushed the league’s Council of Presidents to adopt its petition to allow postseason play for Ivy football teams.
Since its formation in 1954, the league has banned postseason play for football. Until this recent decision, it was the only conference within the FCS to prohibit teams from playoff eligibility.
At the same time, it has allowed postseason competition for other sports. Plenty of Ivy basketball teams have made a mark in the NCAA “March Madness” tournament, and Ivy lacrosse teams routinely compete for national titles.
Traditionally, the rationale for banning postseason football play centered on potential conflicts with final exams, though recent concerns about player safety have bolstered the argument against competing in more games.
Despite these qualms, the league voted Dec. 18 to buck 70 years of tradition and permit postseason participation for football.
“The Ivy League prides itself on a storied tradition of impact, influence, and competitive success throughout the history of college football. We now look ahead to a new chapter of success and to further enhancing the student-athlete experience with our participation in the NCAA FCS playoffs,” Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said in a statement.
“I want to commend the students on our SAAC for their thoughtful and thorough proposal as well as their commitment to the league’s legislative process.”
The Harvard Crimson reported that in July 2023, Carey, the Brown softball player, asked Harris why football was the only sport not eligible for postseason competition.
“I was like, ‘this doesn’t make any sense,'” Carey said.
When Carey asked Harris to address the situation, Harris replied, “I think it would be better coming from the student-athletes.”And why not? In recent years, student-athletes have gained considerable leverage over the NCAA and the universities they play for, raking in scads of cash while hopping from one school to the next via the transfer portal in search of bigger and better NIL deals and related financial incentives.
Soon, thousands of former and current student-athletes will reap the benefits of a $2.77 billion settlement by the NCAA, which paves the way for schools and conferences to pay athletes directly.
Signs point to the eventuality that student-athletes will become employees of the universities they play for, armed with collective bargaining rights. Last summer, Dartmouth College, an Ivy League member, made news when its basketball team voted to unionize. The team recently ended its bid to set such a precedent, citing an unfavorable National Labor Relations Board environment under the new Trump administration.
Nonetheless, this rebalance of power is manifesting within the Ivy League, arguably the most traditional and rigid conference within the NCAA. The league now allows athletes to benefit from NIL deals, and changes in antitrust legislation might enable Ivy students to receive athletic scholarships for the first time.
So as revolutionary as this news might seem given the league’s historically strict adherence to longstanding policies, it’s not all that surprising in light of these seismic shifts altering the world of intercollegiate athletics.
“I think it’s long overdue,” Sian Beilock, Dartmouth’s president, said of the postseason playoff decision per The New York Times.
Will an Ivy League team have a legitimate chance at a national football title? It’s highly unlikely. Not a single Ivy was ranked among the nation’s top 25 when this latest regular season finished. The same was true in 2023.
Making the FCS tournament is one thing. Beating national powerhouses such as North Dakota State, South Dakota State University, and Montana State University, which offer athletic scholarships, is quite another.
But now at least one Ivy school each year will have a shot because the league’s champion will receive an automatic bid to the tournament. Theoretically, other Ivy teams could receive at-large bids.
The league must first establish a tie-breaker system. Last season, Dartmouth, Harvard University, and Columbia University each claimed a share of the conference title following a 10-game season.
By comparison, national champion North Dakota State played 16 games this year, including four in the postseason, so there’s certainly a potential for several more games for the Ivy winner.
And there’s always the possibility that the allure of postseason play will attract athletes who might otherwise not have considered an Ivy school. Such a scenario could result in more talented athletes playing in the league, assuming they can pass academic muster.
Of course, should the Ivy League decide to start paying players directly, they have the financial wherewithal to outbid most other schools for talent, assuming there’s no ceiling on payments.
All that is merely speculation. For now, Ivy football players can celebrate the opportunity to compete in the FCS playoffs with hopes of winning a national championship. It’s a small step in what has become a giant leap for college sports.