Ivy League plans to participate in FCS playoffs beginning in the 2025 season

The Ivy League announced on Wednesday that it will begin participating in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs next season.

The Ivy League Council of Presidents approved participation in the playoffs in a vote on Tuesday. The league’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee initiated the proposal more than a year ago.

“The Ivy League prides itself on a storied tradition of impact, influence, and competitive success throughout the history of college football,” the league’s executive director, Robin Harris, said in a statement. “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.”

Starting in 2025, the league’s winner will receive an automatic bid to the playoffs. However, the Ivy League has not had an outright winner since 2022. The last two seasons saw three teams win a share of the championship. How the Ivy League plans to determine tiebreakers is unknown.

“It took 68 years to get to this point, so I don’t think anybody was really looking at what the second step was going to be. We really needed to see the first step happen. … We know [developing tiebreakers] is something we need to do down the line,” said Penn coach Ray Priore.

Priore added: “Could not be more excited and thrilled for our student-athletes within the league, all our football players. Many thanks to the SAAC representatives. I thought they did a great job. SAAC was really the main thrust behind it all.”

Junior quarterback Liam O’Brien is a SAAC representative for Penn’s football team. O’Brien, who ended the season as the team’s starter, played a role in bringing the conference to the playoffs.

“We got together a group of eight players, one player representing each team across the Ivy League,” O’Brien said. “We’ve been at it since last December and really just been getting the support from our fellow student-athletes from across the Ivy League.”

The league had opted out of the playoffs in football since the 1945 signing of the Ivy Group Agreement.

The Ivy League has long been criticized for not properly supporting student-athletes. Unlike other conferences, the Ivy does not give out athletic scholarships or allow early course registration for student-athletes. More recently, the league’s schools have rejected the creation of name, image, and likeness collectives.

Malachi Hosley, a sophomore halfback at Penn who is in the transfer portal, told The Inquirer earlier this month that the league was “moving in the right direction” on FCS playoff participation. Hosley opted to enter the portal just a few weeks before Wednesday’s decision but notably just minutes after the Quakers’ season-ending loss to Princeton on Nov. 23.

“I think it will definitely impact [player interest] in a positive way,” Priore said. “People who are competitive want to challenge for [a championship]. And hopefully, we retain more players again.”

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