The BIZARRE DRAMA Between ESPN & The Ivy League

When The Ivy League initially signed a television deal with ESPN in 1988, the relationship between the two sides was on rocky ground. However, in 1989, ESPN attempted to fix this with a proposal designed to give The Ivy League more television exposure. The end result was a disaster, with The Ivy League bashing ESPN, and with the relationship between the two sides being beyond repair. This is the story behind the drama between ESPN and the Ivy League at the end of the 1980s
The Ivy League consists of the following schools:
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Harvard
Penn
Princeton
Yale
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#ncaa #ivyleague #espn #cfb #football #sports #highlights #1989 #cornell #columbia #dartmouth #yale #harvard #penn

[@jmed412]

Decades later ESPN and the Ivy League patched their differences and even had games on Friday night

[@tommyjones6866]

Former Ivy League student here. I remember when we talked about this on campus. Not only were the student-athletes going to miss class Thursday and Friday...but the non-student athletes would also likely miss Friday class. The vast majority of our classes were MWF. If there is a Thursday night football game, you'd have 2000 students in the stands watching (half the campus). These students are gonna get drunk before the football game, get drunk during the game, then more drunk after. Everybody was going to miss Friday class. It just wasn't worth it. The Ivy League doesn't need ESPN money...they have a MASSIVE endowment from their alumni.

[@jmwburner]

Dartmouth moment

[@mongomaddy]

don’t forget the massive endowment from the federal government

[@adensamuel5994]

Nerd

[@Captain_AAhab]

@@mongomaddy They’re private schools kid, all funding is done through boosters 🤣🤣🤣

[@relser187]

Correct me if I’m wrong sir, but doesn’t Harvard have a reputation of being quite the party school behind the scenes?

[@johnl5350]

You can thank OU and UGA for being able to watch all the CFB you want.

[@TheSonicsean]

This is one of those things you could rationally see coming from a mile away. Asking the most academically focused conference in football to play games on literal school days is such a non starter I can't believe ESPN asked. Now the MAC on the other hand...

[@marcus813]

ESPN clearly forgot which conference it was dealing with. It had to know that it couldn't approach the Ivy League the same way it approached other conferences. As for the MAC, it desperately wants us to enjoy that MACtion!

[@gavinstutler3229]

Ivy League is just an overpriced diploma mill

[@Pensfan5919]

@@marcus813 As someone starting at Kent State this week, I can say that the unique schedule of the MAC is part of why I picked to go there over WVU. Unsurprisingly, I'm enrolled in their journalism program.

[@marcus813]

@@Pensfan5919 USF alum here (C/O 2004). I hope you do well at Kent State and enjoy that MACtion whenever you can. You'll have a better idea of what it's like since you'll have a chance to see it up close. I've seen it only on TV! LOL

[@CTubeMan]

ESPN credits itself in part with saving the Ivy League’s status as an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Basketball Tournament by showing Princeton’s near upset of Georgetown on national TV in 1989.

[@matthewdaley746]

Georgetown only, won, The, National Championship, because, it, was, lucky enough to play, The, Other, Perpetual Bridesmaid, Houston, sad, it absolutely, was.

[@altfactor]

I thought that every Division 1 college basketball conference's conference tournament champion gets an automatic NCAA berth. It's my understanding that the Ivy League had to institute a conference basketball tournament a few years back to keep their automatic NCAA berth.

[@CTubeMan]

@@altfactor Apparently the NCAA was considering doing away with having every conference champion in the tournament around that time.

[@knelsud92]

@@CTubeMan, I somewhat remember some of champions of some tiny conferences having to play in a play-in game "outside" the actual NCAA tournament to get a bid in the late 80's.

[@madbrowniac7871]

knelsud92: Some still do. It's called "The First Four" in Dayton, Ohio. And that a number of times HBCUs from The Mid Eastern Athletic Conference and The South Western Athletic Conference were required to show up there and compete BEFORE the rest of the Tourney was no small controversial matter.😏😡🏀B.W.

[@briandonegan8480]

All of this could have been avoided if ESPN gave the Ivy league nearly full responsibility to decide what games were shown. It would have built enough trust and good will do that a Thursday night idea may have been more digestible and certainly wouldn't have been so soundly and rudely rejected

[@nemesismm1006]

Love these videos. The backstory behind the disputes, controversies, and just overall odd happenings are as interesting as the sports themselves a lot of the time.

[@goonhead3791]

One Ivy League ESPN cross over I can think of is The University of Penn on college game day in Philadelphia, one of two times College Game Day was in Philly.

[@CyberchaoX]

It's interesting that this happened in the 80s, less than a full decade after the Ivy League was moved to 1-AA in the first place. Surprisingly, both the Ivy and the Southland Conferences were initially 1-A conferences right after the split, but the majority of the schools didn't draw enough fans to continue to qualify as 1-A schools. While the conferences could have continued on as "split-division conferences" comprised of both 1-A and 1-AA teams, as the MVC did (Tulsa notably remaining in 1-A while much of their conference was 1-AA), in both conferences' cases, there was only a single school that had the option to remain in 1-A: Yale and McNeese State. Both schools voluntarily reclassified as 1-AA rather than being 1-A schools in 1-AA conferences.

[@altfactor]

If the Ivy League had accepted Thursday night games in ESPN, they would have had competition in September (in major markets) from local late season baseball, in October from network postseason baseball, and in late October and November (in major markets) from local NHL and NBA telecasts.

[@sparkyfister]

So did the games espn eventually went with. I'd say they did alright.

[@Bmthighlights]

I love this guys storytelling ability

[@kennystanley1988]

Dude needs to cut to the chase

[@gluserty]

I agree, and I think his researching rivals Steve Hirdt & Russell Baxter, with the ability to weave in pop culture like Bill Simmons.

[@matthewdaley746]

Entertaining, an absolute master.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@gluserty His bias, terrifyingly horrible.

[@gluserty]

@@matthewdaley746 Bill Simmons has Boston bias for certain, but he had admitted to it.

[@willijs8]

Soooooo, what in the world was the Brown coach worried about? They sucked, AND they weren't worried about revenue? I'm confused.

[@bucksdiaryfan]

The Nard Dog was at the big Cornell-Penn game. In fact, as I remember it, "Here Comes Treble" sang the national anthem

[@Bmthighlights]

You should do a video on 2004's bcs poll with 3 undefeated power 5 teams.

[@TheEgganator324]

That's too known

[@NA.NA..]

Power 6*

[@vdubproductions2646]

Ivy League to this day is the only league in FCS that doesn't send any of their teams to the FCS Playoffs which doesn't make sense. Think about it, they don't want their students missing class but yet they do send their teams to the NCAA Tournament as well as some other lower tournaments which takes place during the week, but yet won't send their teams to the FCS Playoffs in football which is ONCE a week. Yeah makes sense, for a league that is well known for academics are ran by people with lower I.Q. than a sloth.

[@matthewdaley746]

NDSU obliterates opponents, anyway.

[@vdubproductions2646]

@@matthewdaley746 That is true, but the point is at least Ivy league should allow their conference champion to be in.

[@chrisp679]

The MEAC and SWAC don’t either.

[@vdubproductions2646]

@@chrisp679 not automatically but will have their teams in occasionally, Ivy never has allowed it.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@vdubproductions2646 Perhaps, but, discretion, counts.

[@seanbrady2232]

As a Bulldog, it’s nice to see highlights of Brown getting pummeled over and over and over again. Also, just discovered your channel. CRIMINALLY underrated! Good job!

[@jackfitzpatrick5566]

I’m so happy the algorithm suggested you. You create amazing content!

[@michaeldavis5616]

Rivalries do not matter if neither team is any good that year. The fact that ESPN decided not to show the Cornell-Penn game in 1989 for the Ivy League title to end both their seasons just makes me think less of ESPN.

[@matthewdaley746]

Literally, stunned, that's, possible.

[@CTubeMan]

Tell that to Army-Navy.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@CTubeMan Only, contest, with, relevance.

[@chriskay1449]

That is wrong, especially when it comes to the fans and alums of both schools. When you ahve alums all over country, guess what game they are going to care about? Hint: it ain't Cornell/Penn. ESPN didn't do naything wrong. They picked what they thought would have more eyeballs around the nation and could make a legit case for it.

[@michaeldavis5616]

@@chriskay1449 Harvard and Yale sucked that year. I'm positive at that point like I would've with my team many of their fans would've stopped watching hoping for better results the following year.

[@jamessimms415]

I can remember when Ivy League games were on PBS, maybe getting the feed from what’s been shown.

[@marcus813]

I remember watching one of those games on WEDU here in Tampa. I'm not sure how I remembered that, though.

[@TheEgganator324]

Last time I was this early New Mexico was ranked

[@CTubeMan]

That first year ESPN covered the Ivy League was the 20th anniversary of the game when Harvard “beat” Yale 29-29.

[@donaldpaluga]

Whatever happened to all those Cantabs? None of them amounted to much, AMIRITE?-Brian Dowling

[@joemeehan9329]

There is a wonderful book and documentary about that game. Tommy Lee Jones vs. Calvin Hill.

[@jasonjones7686]

Ivy League- We want more exposure! Even though no one gives a shit about us ESPN- here’s some more exposure Ivy League- *starts to slow-cry* not like that ESPN! We want to be prime time! You know what, we’re done with you! Good luck without us! ESPN- oh, my bad, we’re you talking? Sorry, I was talking to actual football teams that bring in fans. Do you need a tissue or something? 😂

[@matismf]

When I went to Cornell, the opposing cheer to Brown football was: "What's the color of ho******t? Brown. Brown."

[@altfactor]

Speaking about Ivy League sports, even today, Ivy League teams in hockey and basketball (both men's and women's) very rarely play games on Mondays through Thursdays. Most Ivy hockey and basketball teams play back-to-back on Friday and Saturday nights; or sometimes, back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday (with the latter being afternoon games) or Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.

[@RudyBlackman]

i have never seen collage hockey in my life let alone ivy leauge so maybe theres a problem here

[@pronkb000]

College hockey is a big deal in parts of the Northeast and in the upper Midwest.

[@kjell1979]

It's also worth noting that even today the Ivy League still doesn't offer athletic scholarships.

[@lsmftymf]

The Ivy League Network has been part of ESPN+ since 2018. Unfortunately the Patriot League Network also joined ESPN+ two years later. Used to watch PLN when the live streams were free; stopped when forced to pay up.

[@GayActorMichaelDouglas-zd2fo]

Tbh, the Ivy League seem somewhat entitled here

[@wwparker67]

this channel is underrated

[@jebwoodford1233]

I thought we all hate ESPN? Did I miss something?

[@shackdaddy7106]

I wish every conference in this country was like the Ivy League. School first athletics second. And now that the players are getting paid, there’s no reason for them to go to school. Just show up for practice and play the.games.

[@dustinsindledecker154]

If that was the case then nobody would watch.

[@shackdaddy7106]

@@dustinsindledecker154 Why not? There would still be games on Saturday just like there are now. Why should coaches get paid millions of dollars a year to coach boys and the players get nothing. Finally this year the players are going to get paid.

[@dentatusdentatus1592]

But Ivy league schools have multi billion dollar endowments. For other schools, football is a major revenue stream.

[@shackdaddy7106]

@@dentatusdentatus1592 People would still go watch college football. The money would not disappear.

[@avantesmith6442]

@@shackdaddy7106 but would they at the same clip? Let’s be real: the decisions that a lot of the schools have made stem from the fact that people want to see the best athletes, play at these football factories. So, would people still watch? Yes? But at the same level? People still watch Ivy and even smaller school ball…just not the same way millions watch the SEC, B1G, etc. Schools wouldn’t sell their souls to these networks if it didn’t matter.

[@altfactor]

Some years later, ESPN launched a subsidiary called ESPN Regional Television (ERT) that produced for regional syndication games ESPN held the rights to, but couldn't accommodate on their cable networks. But I doubt ERT existed back in the late 1980's. Otherwise, the 1988 Cornell/Penn game could have been on ERT and syndicated to Philadelphia and parts of upstate New York and Harvard/Yale could have been on ESPN. Or, Cornell/Penn might have been out on ESPN and Harvard/Yale could have been syndicated by ERT to stations in New England and maybe New York City.

[@marcus813]

What eventually ERT existed in the '80s, but that was before ESPN bought that entity. ERT's roots are in Creative Sports, which definitely existed in the '80s. I remember watching my USF Bulls' men's basketball games on Creative Sports when they were in the Sun Belt.

[@GMUACW]

Ah, the good old days before Thursday Night Football was a weekly thing.

[@jamestank1999]

What was wrong with college fb in the 80s😂

[@skidawg22]

One of my best friends in high school played football at Dartmouth. From that, I know that the Ivy League schools - some of the most expensive schools in the country - do not even offer athletic scholarships.

[@bucksdiaryfan]

Wait a second -- don't their basketball teams play during the week? Dont the same travel complaints apply?

[@kaidusplatinum987]

Nice video

[@michaeldavis5616]

To be honest, I would like to know when the occasional Friday night college football games started. That's usually reserved for the high school teams though they sometimes do have theirs on a Saturday morning/afternoon or another day and time period. And remember the Mid-American Conference have played some their in-conference games many times on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the past.

[@davidbuswa9425]

Now you know how the CFL is treated on ESPN

[@47knives]

Can you do a video on the ivy league amendment? It will be interesting. Edit: i spell ivy, ive

[@sam21462]

Nice video! Roll Tide Roll Titan Up!

[@josephrocco2954]

Great video. But, here-see?

[@thatsmrtguy4935]

The line about asking your friend out hit hard

[@chop54321]

Who knew this was the original MACtion haha

[@orionparish9858]

They must have rebuilt part of the bridge because Gameday came for a game in the early 2000s (2002 I think was the year they did it). One-off though it was, it's still one of my favorite Gameday broadcasts.

[@viktorvaughn7341]

I actually imagine that something similar to this recently happened with the Big Ten, I mean I had a bunch of family members that just simply did not have the Big Ten Network which basically meant no games from the Big Ten can be watched, and yeah there were some primetime games but it was those at top of the conference that got those games, and the big games not being on the Network was probably not the best look for the Big Ten and you see all these other big schools like USC and Texas getting there own networks and I think OSU and UofM were a bit upset by that

[@aaronholcomb237]

17 for Princeton in these highlights is Jason Garrett.

[@altfactor]

I thought the 1984 Ivy League TV deal was actually with Boston's WGBH, with WGBH in turn feeding the games to the Eastern Educational Network (EEN).

[@iancypes5911]

That's how almost all PBS shows are produced

[@pronkb000]

With a young Sean McDonough as the sideline reporter.

[@royveteto4134]

harvard yale is always great; especially when you get the chance to see richard gilmore tailgating with thurston howell iii

[@johnl5350]

And that's the story of how Ivy League athletics captured the nation's imagination... oh wait.

[@zachcantrell4416]

Future video idea if you’re doing college dumb decisions: Penn State calling 2 timeouts to run Miles Sanders straight into Chase Young on 4th and 5 against Ohio State in 2018.

[@matthewdaley746]

Or, Bobby Bowden's stubborn refusal to recruit competent kickers, how, many, wins, did he throw away by being lazy at that position.

[@pronkb000]

I want a video on the 1984 Maryland-Tennessee Sun Bowl "bandito" hoax--a "prank" that somehow did not get the Sun Bowl committee sued out of existence even 38 years ago.

[@matthewdaley746]

@@pronkb000 Some things abhor logic.

[@voiceofreason2674]

Lmao who would EVER watch an ivy league game

[@iangraham9988]

I mean the Harvard and Yale is the mother rivalry game

[@brandlyscottconner9824]

34 Years Ago

[@TheEgganator324]

We know we can do the math

[@Jpgator1214]

So hang on, ESPN airs a rivalry game instead of the title game in the name of tradition and rivalry. Then the ivy league gets pissed. So espn the following year airs only entertaining and exciting games. The ivy league gets pissed. Sounds like the ivy league thinks they are more important than they really are. Sorry, it's not 1912 anymore.

[@Syrnkop]

Yo W video

[@MrJara1018]

Meh Coach Beamer was there forever

[@connorironside6735]

They must have esed there stance a little bit as they have have a deal now where games are played on Friday nights on espn u

[@Hogtownboy1]

I guess it is a good piece of dry humour “ it maybe the most important decision of the Supreme Court”

[@JaguarGator8]

In college football history for sure. College football is not the TV juggernaut it is today without that ruling Of all time? Absolutely not

[@hoponpop3330]

Loren may he RIP was a great basketball / baseball guy who went to Northeastern and worked in their athletic department . But as a Ct native living close to Yale . he should have had a better understanding of the pretentious Ivy mentality He lived sports it was everything to him I could see him not understanding their reply .

[@patrickracer43]

I think Cornell vs Penn lost out to Yale vs Harvard because ESPN is in New England Edit: "the Ivy League isn't about money" I mean, they're already rich

[@TheAlpharam]

Ironic because no one hates the Ivy more than the Ivy. Let the Ivy partake in playoffs. They'll be one and done every year anyhow

[@chrissao_502]

Ivy League football still only play 10 games and don't send anyone to the playoffs even when a team is ranked in the top 10. Not to mention that most sports don't even have a championship game/tournament, just the round robin champ(s) are the champs and if there's tied team a series of tiebreakers decide what team moved on to the postseason, if they sport is even allowed to participate in a postseason tournament. I don't know how it was back then but if Ivy League didn't allow football to play in the I-AA playoffs not show what is the best chance these kids are gonna have at a ring, albeit a confrence on, athletically is ridiculous.

[@chadwickwhite6107]

I don't BLAME ESPN for HATING the POISON IVY LEAGUE. The TEAMS that represent THOSE SCHOOLS are WELL BELOW a 39.6 and should NEVER SHOW UP for their games.

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

I think there's something you missed. It's not about tradition or rivalry, it's that a casual person knows Harvard and Yale and thinks of them more highly than Cornell and Penn. They're just super famous names that makes someone go "huh I wonder what Harvard football is like" even if they only have a passing interest in football. I totally get the decision from a ratings standpoint. In the NBA if ESPN had to choose between a Lakers vs Celtics game where both teams are struggling or a Grizzlies v Pels game where both teams are fighting for the top seed they'd probably still show the Lakers vs Celtics game just because they're such massive names that will draw in casuals

[@marcus813]

The NBA's national TV partners did pass on some Lakers/Celtics games in the late 2010s while the Lakers circled the drain.

[@chriskay1449]

ESPN and the NBA set the TV games before the season starts, so the Lakers/Ectlicsa game would have been scheduled from the start and the Griz/Pels never would have been given any consieration.

[@CatsClaw44]

Fans would be more interested in a championship game than to terrible teams with a "name".

[@CatsClaw44]

@@marcus813 Exactly, the NBA adjusted all of the time, so does MLB and NFL if possible.

[@chrisp679]

But what game are more people going to be interested in? It’s the Harvard-Yale tilt every time.

[@davidwadsworth8982]

About Brown, as with thyen rest of thye league, all partcipants get a trophy, good so so or bad.ESPN did what it does in all conferences, show thye better teams.Important fact here is the Ivy League ban on post season play for football. Every other sport in that league CAN compete in Post Season tournaments. THIS IS PURE BULLSHIT! The Patriot League academic equal of the Ivy lest football compete in FCS tournament.There is not that much difference between Patriot and Ivy League's best .The Ivy League schools tour out lawyers like New Jersy turns out mobsters so if I was a Football player, I would gather up all the other players and "COURT TIME" big ass law suit., it is descrimination, and all liberals hate that.

[@JoeBobTarheel]

in this i get Ivy League's stance, education is far more important than athletics. if you don't succeed in education, you lose that will to play sports, END OF STORY!!

[@tnguardguyret1974]

"... like I'm against motherhood and Christianity". You mean like a modern day democrat.

[@fenzelian]

All you really need to know about the Ivy League’s relationship with itself is that your team can be total ass and go winless all season against other teams that are also total ass, then come back the next year with no big changes, and the players and their parents are still going to give you hell if you’re the one to tell them they don’t get to be on television - and the prevailing sense will be that you, in the Ivy League - were somehow unfairly disadvantaged - all for a broadcast nobody is watching.