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Ivy Leagues denies 5th years of eligibility

The Ivy League has decided not to allow its spring-sport athletes who had their seasons shortened by the coronavirus pandemic to have an additional year of eligibility as graduates, despite the NCAA granting that option earlier this week.

The move, which was announced Thursday, was consistent for the Ivy League with its policies. The conference hasn’t allowed athletes to participate in any sports as graduates.

“After a number of discussions surrounding the current circumstances, the Ivy League has decided the League’s existing eligibility policies will remain in place, including its longstanding practice that athletic opportunities are for undergraduates,” the league said in a statement.

The NCAA Division I Council voted Monday to give spring-sport athletes regardless of their year in school a way to get back the season they lost because of the new coronavirus, but it did not guarantee financial aid to the current crop of seniors if they return to play next year. Spring-sport athletes include baseball, softball and lacrosse players.

Penn athletic director Grace Calhoun said ADs in the Ivy League had many discussions over the past few weeks about what to do.

“We had hours of conversation,” she said in a phone interview. “We discussed allowing institutions to work with student-athletes up to and including allowing them to be grad students. Or do we hold tight and say our founding principles are what they are?”

In the end, the league decided that it believes in “undergraduate eligibility and despite the circumstances we’ll stick with that,” she said.

Calhoun said decisions ultimately were going to be made by the school presidents. For the policy to change, it would have required six of the eight to agree on the one-time leniency.

As of Thursday, before the announcement from the conference, nearly 70 Ivy League senior spring-sports athletes had entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Source: Dallas signs suspended Smith

The Dallas Cowboys are taking a chance on another suspended defensive end, signing Aldon Smith to a contract while his playing status in the NFL is uncertain.

A person with direct knowledge of the deal said Smith signed Wednesday with Dallas. The person spoke to he Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been announced. Smith posted a picture of himself signing a document on Instagram and wrote, “Life is good. I’m thankful. I’m blessed. I’m a Cowboy.”

Smith hasn’t played in the NFL since 2015, when he was suspended for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy while with the Oakland Raiders.

The Cowboys now have two suspended pass rushers under contract in Smith and Randy Gregory. It wasn’t immediately clear where Smith stands in the reinstatement process. Gregory is seeking reinstatement.

Next Gen car delayed

NASCAR has delayed the debut of its next generation stock car that was scheduled to hit the track next season.

The car will now be delayed until 2022 because the coronavirus pandemic has slowed development.

The Next Gen project has been years in the works as an industry-wide collaboration to cut costs and improve competition.

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