WTF.
Before Joe Tsai co-founded Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. , made billions and bought the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, he played lacrosse at Yale in the 1980s. His devotion to the sport grew along with his net worth, and recently he brought the two together in the form of an unusual offer.
Tsai offered to pay several million dollars for the Ivy League to build a sequestered “bubble” that would allow its men’s and women’s lacrosse teams to compete again during the pandemic. Ivy League conference presidents rebuffed the proposal almost immediately, conference executive director Robin Harris said.
It’s a sign of the fierce pressure the eight Ivy League universities are under as the conference heads into a possible second year without sports as the coronavirus pandemic drags on.
The Ivy League was the first conference to call off athletic competition back in March 2020. Nearly one year later, America’s oldest athletic conference is still on the sidelines with no clear plans to restart.
The extended pause that was once seen as prudent is now a point of contention.
Athletes are in limbo. Sports are important enough to some of them that they are unenrolling from their Ivy League schools to prolong their athletic eligibility. Most of the Yale lacrosse team Tsai tried to save did just that against his advice, according to a person familiar with the team.
Influential alumni, miffed by what they see as rigidity at the expense of students, are turning up the heat on conference leadership to end the sports freeze. But university presidents have not caved.
“This is not about us not being able to compete in terms of not being able to figure out safety protocols or testing strategies,” said Harris in an interview. “We can figure out the protocols. But the protocols [for athletics] would not fit with existing campus policies” that prohibit large gatherings and travel.
Joe Tsai offered to pay several million dollars for the Ivy League to build a sequestered 'bubble' that would allow its men’s and women’s lacrosse teams to compete again during the pandemic.
PHOTO: MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Ivy League has been reluctant to restart competition despite evidence that indicates the biggest risks for viral transmission do not occur on the field. It canceled fall sports in early July and winter sports before Thanksgiving.
Each Ivy institution implemented slightly different guidelines for returning students to campus, but health protocols pertaining to athletic training facilities were strict across the board. Most courts, gyms, pools and rinks remained closed for the fall term.
“I do wonder sometimes if sports are being singled out,” said George Pyne, chief executive of Bruin Sports Capital and a Brown football alum.
Of the 357 Division I men’s basketball teams, 347 are playing; the Ivy League represents eight of the 10 universities to opt out. The conference voluntarily abandoned its automatic qualifying bids to men’s and women’s March Madness—a placement that nets the conference at least $280,000 from the NCAA basketball fund for every tournament game played.
Passing on a six-figure payout during a pandemic that’s rocked the financial foundation of college athletics would be foolhardy in any other conference. But the calculus is different in the Ivy League.
Money is not as big of a factor. Without lucrative television contracts, stadiums that seat tens of thousands or bowl-game berths, Ivy League football is a money-losing operation—as is every other sport. There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.
Athletics are seen as an investment in student development, said Harris. This mind-set, backed by multibillion-dollar endowments, is why the Ivies field so many teams. Harvard, for example, sponsors 40 sports—nearly three times the NCAA Division I minimum of 14.
Without lucrative television contracts, stadiums that seat tens of thousands or bowl-game berths, Ivy League football is a money-losing operation.
PHOTO: CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The schools also didn’t want to create a bifurcated college experience in which most undergraduates take classes from their dorm rooms while athletes get their noses swabbed multiple times per week to let them compete across the country.
“They [athletes] are students and they are treated like other students as much as we can,” Harris said. “That applies now as we are making decisions in the pandemic: our campus policies apply to our athletic activities and to our student athletes.”
Pyne and other alumni have questioned whether the conference’s commitment to its student athletes has changed, however. Former Brown football player Bob Warden and his wife Margaret, who played ice hockey at Yale, wrote to the Ivy League Council of Presidents in January urging them to green light spring sports.
“If anything, the Ivy League should be on the forefront of developing ways for student activities, including athletics, to reopen as opposed to having their actions suggest that there is a problem and they don’t have a solution,” said Bob Warden, who oversees private equity at Cerberus Capital Management. “They certainly have the experts and money to make it happen.”
Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan, another former Brown football player, wrote a plea to Brown president Christina Paxson. “I do this as part of a League and team that has successfully and safely found a way to navigate this pandemic and provide the opportunity to compete at the highest level to our players and coaches,” wrote Donovan. “Brown athletes deserve the opportunity to pursue their passion, learn from their success and failures, and grow from the experience.”
A spokesperson for Paxson did not respond to a request for comment.
Tsai went a step further. With the help of Mike Rabil, a Dartmouth football alum and co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League, in which he is a major investor, Tsai drew up plans for a three-week, single-site bubbled tournament for the Ivy League’s men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, according to people familiar with his plans. He pitched the concept to Yale athletic director Vicky Chun and Harris in late January and offered to foot the bill, estimated to exceed five million dollars by a person familiar with the effort.
Harris said she was bullish on the idea, but she defers to Ivy presidents on operational matters. She would not comment on why the offer was rebuffed in less than a week, but said that Tsai’s bubble is no longer being considered.
Also driving frustration is the Ivy League’s unique eligibility requirements that operate on a “use it or lose it” basis upon enrollment. While the NCAA gives athletes a five-year window of active enrollment to complete four seasons of competition, the Ivy League discourages redshirting and bars graduate students from rosters.
The NCAA granted a blanket eligibility waiver to all spring, fall and winter athletes unable to compete in 2020 due to the pandemic. Last week, the conference also announced that current seniors could apply for a one-time exception to compete as graduate students at their current university.
Athletic facilities reopened at the beginning of February for small groups with strict health protocols, but the status of spring games is still unknown. That left athletes with three paths: transfer and play immediately but forgo an Ivy diploma; enroll and hope not to lose half of their collegiate athletics eligibility; or temporarily unenroll.
Dozens made the latter gamble: rosters for more than 23 teams contracted by at least half, according to a review of public information on athletic department websites. Harvard women’s hockey went from 24 skaters in 2019-20 to just three this year. Men’s lacrosse rosters at Cornell and Princeton also took significant hits.
Yale Bulldogs goalkeeper Jack Starr in action.
PHOTO: MINGO NESMITH/ZUMA PRESS
Yale men’s lacrosse took this to an extreme, as 40 of the team’s 48 players are either taking a gap year or transferring, according to a Yale athletics spokesperson. The Bulldogs went from having the No. 8 team in preseason rankings to not having enough players to field a team. Coach Andy Shay declined to comment.
“Pending senior” goalie Jack Starr said he and his teammates learned from Yale’s Chun in January that if there was a season it would be “late, limited and local.” That felt like a raw deal.
“Online learning is frustrating and tough. Zoom fatigue is real,” said Starr. “I considered the athletics and I considered the academics and I didn’t want a shadow of Yale…I wanted the rich, unabridged version of the school I experienced the first two and a half years.”
Write to Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Before Joe Tsai co-founded Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. , made billions and bought the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, he played lacrosse at Yale in the 1980s. His devotion to the sport grew along with his net worth, and recently he brought the two together in the form of an unusual offer.
Tsai offered to pay several million dollars for the Ivy League to build a sequestered “bubble” that would allow its men’s and women’s lacrosse teams to compete again during the pandemic. Ivy League conference presidents rebuffed the proposal almost immediately, conference executive director Robin Harris said.
It’s a sign of the fierce pressure the eight Ivy League universities are under as the conference heads into a possible second year without sports as the coronavirus pandemic drags on.
The Ivy League was the first conference to call off athletic competition back in March 2020. Nearly one year later, America’s oldest athletic conference is still on the sidelines with no clear plans to restart.
The extended pause that was once seen as prudent is now a point of contention.
Athletes are in limbo. Sports are important enough to some of them that they are unenrolling from their Ivy League schools to prolong their athletic eligibility. Most of the Yale lacrosse team Tsai tried to save did just that against his advice, according to a person familiar with the team.
Influential alumni, miffed by what they see as rigidity at the expense of students, are turning up the heat on conference leadership to end the sports freeze. But university presidents have not caved.
“This is not about us not being able to compete in terms of not being able to figure out safety protocols or testing strategies,” said Harris in an interview. “We can figure out the protocols. But the protocols [for athletics] would not fit with existing campus policies” that prohibit large gatherings and travel.
Joe Tsai offered to pay several million dollars for the Ivy League to build a sequestered 'bubble' that would allow its men’s and women’s lacrosse teams to compete again during the pandemic.
PHOTO: MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Ivy League has been reluctant to restart competition despite evidence that indicates the biggest risks for viral transmission do not occur on the field. It canceled fall sports in early July and winter sports before Thanksgiving.
Each Ivy institution implemented slightly different guidelines for returning students to campus, but health protocols pertaining to athletic training facilities were strict across the board. Most courts, gyms, pools and rinks remained closed for the fall term.
“I do wonder sometimes if sports are being singled out,” said George Pyne, chief executive of Bruin Sports Capital and a Brown football alum.
Of the 357 Division I men’s basketball teams, 347 are playing; the Ivy League represents eight of the 10 universities to opt out. The conference voluntarily abandoned its automatic qualifying bids to men’s and women’s March Madness—a placement that nets the conference at least $280,000 from the NCAA basketball fund for every tournament game played.
Passing on a six-figure payout during a pandemic that’s rocked the financial foundation of college athletics would be foolhardy in any other conference. But the calculus is different in the Ivy League.
Money is not as big of a factor. Without lucrative television contracts, stadiums that seat tens of thousands or bowl-game berths, Ivy League football is a money-losing operation—as is every other sport. There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.
Athletics are seen as an investment in student development, said Harris. This mind-set, backed by multibillion-dollar endowments, is why the Ivies field so many teams. Harvard, for example, sponsors 40 sports—nearly three times the NCAA Division I minimum of 14.
Without lucrative television contracts, stadiums that seat tens of thousands or bowl-game berths, Ivy League football is a money-losing operation.
PHOTO: CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The schools also didn’t want to create a bifurcated college experience in which most undergraduates take classes from their dorm rooms while athletes get their noses swabbed multiple times per week to let them compete across the country.
“They [athletes] are students and they are treated like other students as much as we can,” Harris said. “That applies now as we are making decisions in the pandemic: our campus policies apply to our athletic activities and to our student athletes.”
Pyne and other alumni have questioned whether the conference’s commitment to its student athletes has changed, however. Former Brown football player Bob Warden and his wife Margaret, who played ice hockey at Yale, wrote to the Ivy League Council of Presidents in January urging them to green light spring sports.
“If anything, the Ivy League should be on the forefront of developing ways for student activities, including athletics, to reopen as opposed to having their actions suggest that there is a problem and they don’t have a solution,” said Bob Warden, who oversees private equity at Cerberus Capital Management. “They certainly have the experts and money to make it happen.”
Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan, another former Brown football player, wrote a plea to Brown president Christina Paxson. “I do this as part of a League and team that has successfully and safely found a way to navigate this pandemic and provide the opportunity to compete at the highest level to our players and coaches,” wrote Donovan. “Brown athletes deserve the opportunity to pursue their passion, learn from their success and failures, and grow from the experience.”
A spokesperson for Paxson did not respond to a request for comment.
Tsai went a step further. With the help of Mike Rabil, a Dartmouth football alum and co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League, in which he is a major investor, Tsai drew up plans for a three-week, single-site bubbled tournament for the Ivy League’s men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, according to people familiar with his plans. He pitched the concept to Yale athletic director Vicky Chun and Harris in late January and offered to foot the bill, estimated to exceed five million dollars by a person familiar with the effort.
Harris said she was bullish on the idea, but she defers to Ivy presidents on operational matters. She would not comment on why the offer was rebuffed in less than a week, but said that Tsai’s bubble is no longer being considered.
Also driving frustration is the Ivy League’s unique eligibility requirements that operate on a “use it or lose it” basis upon enrollment. While the NCAA gives athletes a five-year window of active enrollment to complete four seasons of competition, the Ivy League discourages redshirting and bars graduate students from rosters.
The NCAA granted a blanket eligibility waiver to all spring, fall and winter athletes unable to compete in 2020 due to the pandemic. Last week, the conference also announced that current seniors could apply for a one-time exception to compete as graduate students at their current university.
Athletic facilities reopened at the beginning of February for small groups with strict health protocols, but the status of spring games is still unknown. That left athletes with three paths: transfer and play immediately but forgo an Ivy diploma; enroll and hope not to lose half of their collegiate athletics eligibility; or temporarily unenroll.
Dozens made the latter gamble: rosters for more than 23 teams contracted by at least half, according to a review of public information on athletic department websites. Harvard women’s hockey went from 24 skaters in 2019-20 to just three this year. Men’s lacrosse rosters at Cornell and Princeton also took significant hits.
Yale Bulldogs goalkeeper Jack Starr in action.
PHOTO: MINGO NESMITH/ZUMA PRESS
Yale men’s lacrosse took this to an extreme, as 40 of the team’s 48 players are either taking a gap year or transferring, according to a Yale athletics spokesperson. The Bulldogs went from having the No. 8 team in preseason rankings to not having enough players to field a team. Coach Andy Shay declined to comment.
“Pending senior” goalie Jack Starr said he and his teammates learned from Yale’s Chun in January that if there was a season it would be “late, limited and local.” That felt like a raw deal.
“Online learning is frustrating and tough. Zoom fatigue is real,” said Starr. “I considered the athletics and I considered the academics and I didn’t want a shadow of Yale…I wanted the rich, unabridged version of the school I experienced the first two and a half years.”
Write to Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
