The Ivy League became the first Division 1 conference to announce that fall sports would not be played this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were also the first to cancel spring sports.

“I think the players, coaches all know this is the right decision,” says Princeton head football Coach Bob Surace. “I don’t think anybody thinks we’re doing this because we don’t care about our athletes. We’re doing this because we do care about our athletes.”

Surace has been the head coach at Princeton for a decade. He says that the loss of sports is tough for the entire athletic department.

“It’s painful because they put so much into this and they care so much about it and they represent an institution they believe in,” he says.

College athletic programs across the country are also trying to deal with the uncertainty of playing fall sports amid the pandemic. After the Ivy League canceled fall sports, the Big 10 announced that its participating schools, including Rutgers University, will play a conference-only schedule. Stanford is cutting 11 varsity sports.

“There’s a lot at stake financially for some schools and if football doesn’t play, there’s things at stake for other athletic programs,” Surace says.

Surace says that a vaccine for COVID-19 would be a game-changer.

“There’s so much optimism towards that, but we also know they’re in like phase three of five phases. It could go wrong at any moment,” he says.

The Ivy League says that the decision about playing fall sports in the spring will be made later.