A Letter on the Need for Ivy League Playoffs

Dear Ivy League athletic directors, coaches, players, and alumni:
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week and a half, you’ve heard the argument about whether the College Football Bowl Subdivision should have a playoff or stick to the current format of the BCS.
The argument seems rather obvious for a playoff—the computers and subjectivity of voters (and inherent biases seen in the coaches’ poll) have yet to create a perfect system, so controversy has continued. Yet for some reason—despite the obvious problems of this system—Division I relies on it. And for an equally weird reason, the Ivy League—home of the smartest people in the world (and those who could create a formula for the BCS)—does as well.
Since Ivy League football was moved down to the NCAA Division I-AA (or FCS) in 1982, the league hasn’t been allowed to participate in bowl games. Why? Prior to that, Ivy football teams were allowed to compete in a bowl game if given the opportunity. Is it because students must focus on their academics? While this is a solid argument, as the Ivy League takes pride in its student-athletes, the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) allows its teams to participate in Division III football playoffs.
The NESCAC had banned its schools (such as Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, and Tufts) from participating in the NCAA playoffs until 1993. This was because, just like the Ivy League, its members believed that the prolonged season would detract from its motto of the student-athlete. Since then, the NESCAC have allowed them to participate in the playoffs.
School rankings have yet to suffer, with Williams and Amherst being the top-two liberal arts colleges in the nation. Does playing another game (or two) really affect the students’ studying for midterms? The opening games of the tournament are generally over Thanksgiving break—something that may affect the players’ abilities to go home, but not their scholastics.
While the NESCAC is Division III, its members still play the same number of games and travel just as much as do Ivy League schools. So why not let Harvard or Brown tackle the best of the division this season?
Colgate (a top-20 liberal arts college), for instance, made the playoffs, losing in the first round, 55-28, to Villanova. This is the same team that beat Dartmouth 34-20—a team that failed to lose by fewer than 13 points in any game, except against Columbia—and Princeton, 27-24. If allowed to play, Harvard and Brown may not beat the opponents, but they would definitely remain competitive.
This playoff dilemma has also plagued Ivy League basketball. The Ivy League is the only Division I conference that does not have a playoff to determine the league championship. Although some defend this by claiming that a playoff would interrupt academics, the tournament would take no more than a week, and would be scheduled right before (or even during) spring break.
The Patriot League—or the Ivy League’s “little brother” (as some contend)—hosts its tournament between March 5 and 14, and nobody seems to have a problem with it. While you may be concerned that the best team may not win (and thus not make the NCAA tournament), a top squad could still make the NIT. For instance, the 2007 Delaware State team went 16-2 in the MEAC and still made the NIT. So if Cornell had lost in the tournament, it almost certainly would have made the NIT—making money for the school and the Ivy League.
While not having a tournament and thus naming the first participant of the NCAA tournament gives the Ivy League 10 seconds of fame on ESPN, a tournament would have the title game on the same network—something that would produce extra revenue for the two schools (and for the league itself). The last time I checked, the Ivy League drools over the possibility of more money (look at the recent endowment numbers). So why not add more money while giving its athletics exposure to America?
We have a three-game baseball playoff for the championship, but not one for basketball, which is more watched than college baseball. While talks have stalled in the past about this, it just seems that it’ll never happen (coaches agree). But it must. Take your heads out of the clouds and give the athletes a chance to show the rest of the country that the Ivy League has basketball teams and football teams that can shine.
Thank you for your time. And please take my suggestions seriously.
Concerned Columbia Student

Max Puro is a Columbia College senior
majoring in history.
Sports@columbiaspectator.com.