The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference of eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, and in football, in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The term Ivy League is used more broadly to refer to the eight schools that belong to the league, which are globally renowned as elite colleges associated with academic excellence, highly selective admissions, and social elitism. The term was used as early as 1933, and it became official in 1954 following the formation of the Ivy League athletic conference. At times, they have also been referred to as the "Ancient Eight".
The eight members of the Ivy League are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. The conference headquarters is in Princeton, New Jersey. All of the "Ivies" except Cornell were founded during the colonial period and therefore make up seven of the nine colonial colleges. The other two colonial colleges, Queen's College (now Rutgers University) and the College of William & Mary, became public institutions.
Memebers[]
| Team | Location | Stadium |
| Brown Bears | Providence, Rhode Island | Brown Stadium |
| Columbia Lions | New York, New York | Wien Stadium |
| Cornell Big Red | Ithaca, New York | Schoellkopf Field |
| Dartmouth Big Green | Hanover, New Hampshire | Memorial Field |
| Harvard Crimson | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Harvard Stadium |
| Pennsylvania Quakers | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Franklin Field |
| Princeton Tigers | Princeton, New Jersey | Princeton Stadium |
| Yale Bulldogs | New Haven, Connecticut | Yale Bowl |
Rivalries[]
Harvard-Yale Rivalry 1900s
Rivalries run deep in the Ivy League. For instance, Princeton and Penn are longstanding men's basketball rivals; "Puck Frinceton" T-shirts are worn by Quaker fans at games. In only 11 instances in the history of Ivy League basketball, and in only seven seasons since Yale's 1962 title, has neither Penn nor Princeton won at least a share of the Ivy League title in basketball, with Princeton champion or co-champion 26 times and Penn 25 times. Penn has won 21 outright, Princeton 19 outright. Princeton has been a co-champion 7 times, sharing 4 of those titles with Penn (these 4 seasons represent the only times Penn has been co-champion).
Harvard won its first title of either variety in 2011, losing a dramatic play-off game to Princeton for the NCAA tournament bid, then rebounded to win outright championships in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Harvard also won the 2013 Great Alaska Shootout, defeating TCU to become the only Ivy League school to win the now-defunct tournament.
Rivalries exist between other Ivy league teams in other sports, including Cornell and Harvard in hockey, Harvard and Princeton in swimming, and Harvard and Penn in football (Penn and Harvard have won 28 Ivy League Football Championships since 1982, Penn-16; Harvard-12). During that time Penn has had 8 undefeated Ivy League Football Championships and Harvard has had 6 undefeated Ivy League Football Championships. In men's lacrosse, Cornell and Princeton are perennial rivals, and they are two of three Ivy League teams to have won the NCAA tournament. In 2009, the Big Red and Tigers met for their 70th game in the NCAA tournament. No team other than Harvard or Princeton has won the men's swimming conference title outright since 1972, although Yale, Columbia, and Cornell have shared the title with Harvard and Princeton during this time. Similarly, no program other than Princeton and Harvard has won the women's swimming championship since Brown's 1999 title. Princeton or Cornell has won every indoor and outdoor track and field championship, both men's and women's, every year since 2002–03, with one exception (Columbia women won the indoor championship in 2012). Harvard and Yale are football and crew rivals although the competition has become unbalanced; Harvard has won all but one of the last 15 football games and all but one of the last 13 crew races.
Intra-conference football rivalries[]
| Teams | Name | Trophy | First met | Games played | Series record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia–Cornell | Empire State Bowl | Empire Cup | 1889 | 103 games | 36–64–3 |
| Cornell–Dartmouth | None | None | 1900 | 103 games | 41–61–1 |
| Cornell–Penn | None | Trustee's Cup | 1893 | 122 games | 46–71–5 |
| Dartmouth–Harvard | None | None | 1882 | 123 games | 47–71–5 |
| Dartmouth–Princeton | None | Sawhorse Dollar | 1897 | 100 games | 50–46–4 |
| Harvard–Penn | None | None | 1881 | 90 games | 49–39–2 |
| Harvard–Princeton | None | None | 1877 | 112 games | 57–48–7 |
| Harvard–Yale | The Game | None | 1875 | 132 games | 59–65–8 |
| Penn–Princeton | None | None | 1876 | 111 games | 67–43–1 |
| Princeton–Yale | None | None | 1873 | 138 games | 52–76–10 |
The Yale–Princeton series is the nation's second-longest by games played, exceeded only by "The Rivalry" between Lehigh and Lafayette, which began later in 1884 but included two or three games in each of 17 early seasons. For the first three decades of the Yale-Princeton rivalry, the two played their season-ending game at a neutral site, usually New York City, and with one exception (1890: Harvard), the winner of the game also won at least a share of the national championship that year, covering the period 1869 through 1903. This phenomenon of a finale contest at a neutral site for the national title created a social occasion for the society elite of the metropolitan area akin to a Super Bowl in the era prior to the establishment of the NFL in 1920. These football games were also financially profitable for the two universities, so much that they began to play baseball games in New York City as well, drawing record crowds for that sport also, largely from the same social demographic. In a period when the only professional team sports were fledgling baseball leagues, these high-profile early contests between Princeton and Yale played a role in popularizing spectator sports, demonstrating their financial potential and raising public awareness of Ivy universities at a time when few people attended college.
Extra-conference football rivalries[]
| Teams | Name | Trophy | First met | Games played | Series record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown–Rhode Island | None | Governor's Cup | 1909 | 107 games | 73–32–2 |
| Columbia–Fordham | None | Liberty Cup | 1890 | 24 games | 12–12–0 |
| Cornell–Colgate | None | None | 1896 | 95 games | 48–44–3 |
| Dartmouth–New Hampshire | Granite Bowl | Granite Bowl Trophy | 1901 | 42 games | 21–19–2 |
| Harvard–Holy Cross | None | None | 1904 | 67 games | 41–24–2 |
| Penn–Lafayette | None | None | 1882 | 90 games | 63–23–4 |
| Penn–Lehigh | None | None | 1885 | 56 games | 43–13 |
| Princeton–Rutgers | None | None | 1869 | 71 games | 53–17–1 |
| Yale–Army | None | None | 1893 | 45 games | 22–16–8 |
| Yale–Connecticut | None | None | 1948 | 49 games | 32–17 |
Championships[]
NCAA team championships[]
This list, which is current through January 8, 2018, includes NCAA championships and women's AIAW championships (one each for Yale and Dartmouth and five for Cornell). Excluded from this list are all other national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including football titles and retroactive Helms Foundation titles.
| School | Total | Men | Women | Co-ed | Nickname |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yale University | 29 | 26 | 3 | 0 | Bulldogs |
| Princeton University | 24 | 19 | 4 | 1 | Tigers |
| Columbia University | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | Lions |
| Harvard University | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | Crimson |
| Brown University | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | Bears |
| Cornell University | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | Big Red |
| Dartmouth College | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Big Green |
| University of Pennsylvania | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Quakers |
Conference championships[]
| College | Titles | Last |
|---|---|---|
| Dartmouth | 22 | 2024 |
| Harvard | 19 | 2024 |
| Penn | 18 | 2016 |
| Yale | 18 | 2023 |
| Princeton | 13 | 2021 |
| Brown | 4 | 2008 |
| Cornell | 3 | 1990 |
| Columbia | 2 | 2024 |
Seasons[]
- 2011 season
- 2012 Ivy League football season
- 2013 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2014 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2015 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2016 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2017 Ivy League football season (10 P)
- 2018 Ivy League football season (10 P)
- 2019 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2020 Ivy League football season (1 P)
- 2021 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2022 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2023 Ivy League football season (9 P)
- 2024 Ivy League football season (9 P)