<p>I suppose that the immediate consequences of the vote will be known tomorrow or Wednesday and I am guessing that Lafayette, Georgetown and Holy Cross will vote NO, the 2 service academies and American will abstain (which will count as NO) while Colgate, Bucknell, Lehigh and Fordham will vote YES. The NOs will have it.</p>
<p>The longer term consequence will be hard to assess since we will lose Fordham from league play (and have to fill that slot if they drop PL schools when they join another league) and lots of alumni at NO and especially YES schools will be annoyed that their programs are not getting the boost from scholarships that arguably less visible PL sports get. </p>
<p>A NO decision that would prevent PL schools offering scholarships, in my view, would be a shame. Let’s face facts: PL schools now miss out on the entire “middle class” demographic due to the limits of current financial aid practices. The Ivies have the reputational advantage in attracting players and in scheduling while scholarship schools make up for any lack of academic reputation with what would be perceived to be a more adventurous football program. </p>
<p>I will hope for the best in any case.</p>