After years of denying its football players the chance to compete in the postseason, the Ivy League finally relented.

In a dramatic shift, the Ivy League's football teams are now going to be able to compete for FCS national championships.

The Ivy League will compete in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs in 2025, ending an 80-year-old policy that kept the Ivy League out of the postseason to maintain a focus on academics. The historic change allows Dartmouth and the other Ivy League teams to compete in postseason football for the first time since 1945.

The conference announced on Wednesday that its Council of Presidents has approved a proposal to compete in the playoffs beginning next fall.

Starting in 2025, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference are the two remaining FCS playoff holdouts. Those leagues, made up of historically Black colleges and universities, instead pair their champions in the annual Celebration Bowl — the de facto HBCU national championship game.

The Ivy League Council of Presidents approved this week the participation of its conference champion in the Division-I FCS Playoffs. The change will go into effect starting with the 2025 season.

The decision comes after a year-long study conducted by the student-athlete representatives, athletic directors, school presidents and others

Ivy League presidents have approved a proposal to participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs beginning with the 2025 season. The league made the official announcement on Wednesday morning.

Beginning with the 2025 season, the Ivy League will participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision postseason and be able to vie for a national championship for the first time in the conference's history. In the Ivy Group Agreement established in 1945, the Ancient Eight has barred any postseason play for football.