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Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on May 19, 2020 7:04:55 GMT -6
Budget shortfalls are prompting schools around the country to drop non-revenue sports.
Bowling Green dropped baseball.
Furman has dropped both baseball and men’s lacrosse.
Wrestling is gone from Old Dominion.
Cincinnati cut men’s soccer,
Other schools are contemplating similar moves.
I wonder if ACU has a contingency plan in mind if revenue continues to decline?
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Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on May 19, 2020 11:05:20 GMT -6
Central Michigan drops track and field
East Carolina will discontinue one or more sports. A cost:benefit analysis is underway to determine which sport/s get the axe.
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Post by acutrackfan on May 19, 2020 13:30:32 GMT -6
Central Michigan drops track and field East Carolina will discontinue one or more sports. A cost:benefit analysis is underway to determine which sport/s get the axe. Ouch — I particularly hate seeing T&F getting axe. T&F has been one of the most common sports to get cut over the past few decades — most commonly men’s T&F. |
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Post by Outsider on May 19, 2020 15:08:27 GMT -6
Our Men's Track is 989 and Women's is 983; both in the upper ranges of our APRs. Men's CC is 1000 with Women's CC 984. I don't think ACU T&F is going anywhere soon. Football is inching in the right direction, but still 938; up from 929 in 2016.
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Post by acutrackfan on May 19, 2020 16:16:36 GMT -6
I don't seriously think that there is a sport on the chopping block at ACU right now. BUT, if we don't get to play football this fall, all bets are off. The $500k we are slated to get from TAMU in the fall is more than the reduction we received this year from the NCAA b-ball tourney not getting played. That was $600k or so, but the b-ball money is paid over several years.
ACU has one ace in the hole that few FCS programs have -- a fairly robust athletic endowment. It is not mega-dollars, but it does help smooth out some of the small bumps in the road. The endowment is not distributed evenly across all the programs, for instance quite possibly the largest endowment is in golf. Football also has a reasonably good endowment. Some of banner programs at ACU have not historically had larger endowments, like T&F, but that corner might be turning there as well. Understand that ACU does not have anything like some of the P-5 schools -- USC, for instance, has $2 million endowments to support every single starting position on the football team. ACU is not in that league (in more ways than one), but in the FCS world, we are doing pretty good.
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Post by mavsman53 on May 19, 2020 22:20:15 GMT -6
One more thing about Central Michigan, they now only have 5 men's sports, which puts them below the requirement to be a D1 FBS football program. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for them.
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Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on May 21, 2020 18:44:42 GMT -6
East Carolina cuts 4 sports —- men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis and women’s tennis
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Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on May 27, 2020 3:40:42 GMT -6
BOONE, N.C. (WBTV) - Appalachian State University announced Tuesday that the school is eliminating three sports due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Director of Athletics Doug Gillin announced the department is reducing its operating budget and cutting the varsity sports of men’s soccer, men’s tennis and men’s indoor track & field.
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Post by acutrackfan on May 27, 2020 7:41:39 GMT -6
I am also trying to keep track of the sports that are being dropped by D1 schools as well. The really odd one in this group of sports is the dropping of men's indoor track and field. I noticed in the article is specifically mentions that men's XC and outdoor track are NOT being dropped. There will be no cost savings on scholarships (there is no separate indoor scholarships given), no cost savings on equipment/uniforms, no savings on room/board, etc. The only savings will be on entry fees (normally around $300-$500 per meet for the entire team) and the travel costs for the MEN'S team -- the women's team will still be travelling and paying entry fees. It just seems like a weird choice to me.
Also telling that the sports being cut AGAIN are men's sports. Thus far, it appears to be about 80% men's sports and 20% women's. And, the women's sports are usually only cut in tandem with the corresponding men's sport, like East Carolina dropping men's AND women's S&D.
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Post by acutrackfan on May 27, 2020 8:01:32 GMT -6
Other drops I have read about: Florida Int's men's track and field (I think that means both indoor and outdoor); Wisconson-Green Bay - men's and women's tennis; Akron - men's XC, men's golf, women's tennis (the head track coach at Akron is ACU alumn Dennis Mitchell -- you notice that Akron cut out the XC team, which means all the distance runners -- Dennis is a former vaulter at ACU and a Don Hood protege, which means vaulters, multis, jumper, hurdlers).
Alabama-Huntsville dropping D-1 ice hockey is a crazy story. UA-H is a D-2 school that added ice hockey as a publicity stunt years ago and took advantage of an old NCAA rule that allowed a D-2 or D-3 school to elevate one sport to D-1 status (ACU seriously considered invoking that rule for track and field back in the early 80's). When the NCAA dropped that rule, they grandfathered in any school that had used it -- that is why D-2 DBU has a very good D-1 baseball program. UA-H thought it would cool to add the only ice hockey program in the southern U.S. I guess their 54-230-22 record since 2011 and having to pay for their team to go north for every single away game convinced the UA-H admin that the publicity stunt had outlived its usefulness.
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Post by OscarWildeCat, Admin on May 27, 2020 9:35:00 GMT -6
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Post by acutrackfan on May 29, 2020 10:47:04 GMT -6
Oscar, interesting that you mention the club sport of ice hockey at UGA, because a story I just read on-line.
Brown University announced yesterday that the following sports were being dropped IMMEDIATELY from varsity sports status: M/W fencing, M/W golf, women's skiing, M/W squash, women's equestrian and men's indoor/outdoor track and men's XC (which counts as 3 sports and makes it easier to drop the women's programs in skiing and equestrian). All of these sports will continue at the club level at Brown. In the same press release it mentions that current club sports of coed sailing and women's sailing will become varsity sports. In the same press release, it mentions that Brown had the third-largest number of sports of any school in the U.S. (it does not mention who was #1 and #2 in the number of sports).
Lots to unpack here. Obviously on the T&F forum websites, there is a lot of talk about this move, bemoaning that the once "major" sport of T&F has been relegated to the same level as equestrian. Brown is unusual because it is an Ivy League school and the Ivy Leaguers do not "technically" give athletic scholarships. This is also interesting because of the growth of club sports in America. Brown already has a "running club" that competes all around the eastern seaboard. Increasingly, around the country the club sports have been rolled up under the athletic programs. If you look hard enough on the ACU site, you will find "club sports" on the ACU Sports website -- golf, rugby, lacrosse, soccer. These athletes do not get any scholarship help, but they do get some help in travel costs and equipment costs. None of the club sports are overseen by the NCAA -- it is a hodge-podge of individual associations. I had a friend on campus who went to the national club golf championship 2 years ago -- ACU provided some travel help.
Why would a university athletic program oversee a club program? Student retention. A great example is Grand Canyon U. They have a very good NCAA D-1 baseball program. But, they also have THREE full club rosters in baseball. The teams play a shorter schedule of around 25-30 games a year against schools close by -- club teams from ASU and UA, maybe southern California. What that also means is you have 60+ students who matriculate to GCU and pay their own freight and stay in school so they can get the chance to experience baseball at the college level. I can see where that business model might have some attraction.
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Post by acutrackfan on Jun 10, 2020 5:33:24 GMT -6
Interesting note about the dropping of sports at NCAA schools -- Brown University has changed their mind on men's indoor/outdoor T&F and XC. Brown announced yesterday afternoon that their track team is being reinstated as varsity sports. Brown has been getting hit hard from their alumni and T&F fans around the country. This is first time I have seen a sport dropped, then reinstated during the current pandemic. It took 14 days for the entire cycle to occur.
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Post by LionUp on Jun 10, 2020 12:37:05 GMT -6
Interesting note about the dropping of sports at NCAA schools -- Brown University has changed their mind on men's indoor/outdoor T&F and XC. Brown announced yesterday afternoon that their track team is being reinstated as varsity sports. Brown has been getting hit hard from their alumni and T&F fans around the country. This is first time I have seen a sport dropped, then reinstated during the current pandemic. It took 14 days for the entire cycle to occur. Bowling Green dropped baseball, then reinstated after a fundraising drive that raised $1.5 million to save the sport. |
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Post by acutrackfan on Jun 10, 2020 12:53:51 GMT -6
Interesting note about the dropping of sports at NCAA schools -- Brown University has changed their mind on men's indoor/outdoor T&F and XC. Brown announced yesterday afternoon that their track team is being reinstated as varsity sports. Brown has been getting hit hard from their alumni and T&F fans around the country. This is first time I have seen a sport dropped, then reinstated during the current pandemic. It took 14 days for the entire cycle to occur. Bowling Green dropped baseball, then reinstated after a fundraising drive that raised $1.5 million to save the sport. Thanks, LionUp. I would think other schools might want to do a fund raising drive as well before summarily dropping sports. |
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