Ivy League football teams will have the opportunity to compete for the FCS national title starting in 2025.
The league announced Wednesday. that their teams would be eligible for the FCS playoffs next season. The Ivy League has banned teams from participating in the postseason for decades, dating back to a 1945 agreement that banned athletic scholarships for football players.
“The Ivy League boasts a storied tradition of impact, influence and competitive success throughout the history of college football. “We now look forward to a new chapter of success and further enhancing the student-athlete experience with our participation in the NCAA FCS playoffs,” Ivy League CEO Robin Harris said in a statement. “I want to congratulate our SAAC students for their thoughtful and thorough proposal, as well as their commitment to the league’s legislative process.”
Harvard tied with Dartmouth and Columbia atop the conference at 5-2 this season, but had head-to-head wins over both teams. Officially, the Ivy League recognized all three teams as co-champions.
As part of the postseason deal, the conference winner will receive an automatic bid to the 24-team FCS playoffs. In its statement, the league said it “will develop tie-breaking criteria to determine how its automatic qualifier will be awarded when there are co-champions in the future.”
The addition of an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs for the Ivy League will leave the MEAC and SWAC as the only two FCS conferences that do not earn automatic bids to the playoffs.
However, the two champions of those leagues meet each year in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. Jackson State beat South Carolina State 28-7 on Saturday to win its first Celebration Bowl title.
FCS playoffs currently awards 10 automatic offers for the conference winners and the field is filled with 14 at-large teams. The top four seeds (Montana State, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and South Dakota) are in the semifinals as South Dakota visits top seed Montana State and SDSU plays NDSU on Saturday. The winners of those two games will meet on January 6 for the national title.