Patriot League won't have fall sports season

(Stats Perform) - The Patriot League followed the Ivy League's lead in announcing Monday it won't have a fall sports season due to concern over the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The league's council of presidents cited the disappointment surrounding the decision, adding "the health and safety of our campuses and communities must be our highest priority."

The presidents left open the possibility of fall teams competing in the spring semester, said announcements surrounding winter and spring sports will be made at a later date, and made Army and Navy exempt from the decision because they "are unique in their environments and their missions within higher education."

Seven schools play FCS football in the Patriot League: Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh as full members and Fordham and Georgetown as associate members. Army and Navy compete on the FBS level and not in the Patriot League, while American, Boston University and Loyola (Md.) do not sponsor football.

Should the Patriot League not move fall sports to the spring, college football's most-played rivalry - Lafayette vs. Lehigh, 155 times - would not be contested for the first time since 1896.

The Patriot became the second Division I conference to announce it will not have a fall sports season, joining the Ivy League, which announced its decision last Wednesday. The two leagues had 13 matchups on their original 2020 football schedule.