okebet Ivy League Agrees to Let Football Teams Compete in the Postseason Next Year

Among the tens of thousands of college athletes who compete for an N.C.A.A. championship, there is one subset who never get the chance: Ivy League football players.

Since the conference was formed in 1954, as a bulwark against athletics encroaching on academics, Ivy League football seasons have come to an end on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

No bowl games. No playoffs.

The threats began last week after Donald J. Trump mentioned Springfield during the presidential debate, repeating a baseless rumor that Haitian immigrants in the city were abducting and eating household pets.

But that will change next year after the Ivy League’s presidents announced on Wednesday that they will allow the league’s teams to compete in the Football Championship Subdivision’s 24-team playoff, which features schools formerly categorized by the N.C.A.A. as Division I-AA. It was the last conference in the N.C.A.A.’s two major football divisions to make such a move.

“I think it’s long overdue,” said Sian Beilock, the president of Dartmouth College. “I was struck by how football is the only sport that didn’t have access to a postseason playoff.”

The inability to participate in the playoffs has been a persistent source of disappointment among Ivy League coaches and players, so the announcement on Wednesday was welcome news to the eight programs.

“That’s the joy of competition,” said Bob Surace, the longest-tenured football coach in the league after completing his 15th season at Princeton. “There’s a score and somebody is going to win and somebody is going to lose, and you find out on that day who is the better team.”

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