Hartford Courant (Sunday)

Number of eliminated programs nearing 100 in midst of pandemic

- By Eric Olson Associated Press

Four-year colleges facing budget shortfalls stemming from the pandemic are approachin­g an unwelcome milestone: In coming days, the number of eliminated sports programs will almost surely pass 100.

Research by The Associated Press found a total of 97 teams eliminated at four-year schools through Friday. The count includes only teams cut with the coronaviru­s outbreak and its impacts cited as all or part of the reason.

Of the 78 teams lost in Divisions II and III and the NAIA, 44 were from three schools that closed at least in part because of financial fallout from the pandemic.

No Power Five conference school is known to have dropped any sports. Most of the 19 Division I teams cut — 15 men’s, four women’s — are from schools in the so-called Group of Five conference­s.

Some of the cuts might not have been made, critics say, if decision-makers had considered the benefits those sports brought to the schools as a whole.

“College presidents are just not thinking this through,” former University of Idaho president Chuck Staben said. “I cannot believe they are making all these probably bad financial decisions for their university when what we need them to do in the face of this pandemic and pending budget cuts from tuition shortfalls and state funding shortfalls is to make good financial decisions that benefit students.”

Staben argues athletes often pay more than the value of their partial scholarshi­ps for tuition, room and board and books, and in many cases bring diversity to campuses. This, he said, is especially important at a time when enrollment declines are accelerati­ng as budget woes hit higher education.

Akron athletic director Larry Williams was ordered to chop 23%, or $4.4 million, from his budget. Akron depends on student fees for 40% of its athletic budget and enrollment is expected to be down 20% this fall. The school dropped men’s cross country and golf and women’s tennis two weeks ago, and there will be other spending and staff reductions.

Williams noted the accounting system used by his and other universiti­es often consider the athletic department a cost center and revenue is generally not considered.

“So we in athletics don’t get credit for any of those tuitions that are paid by the walk-ons. The university does,” Williams said.

Williams said deep cuts to football would not be a good idea for Bowl Subdivisio­n schools because the sport typically supports the rest of the athletic department. Akron, for example, draws revenue from the MidAmerica­n Conference’s television contract, guarantees for playing nonconfere­nce road games, ticket sales, sponsorshi­ps and donations.

David Ridpath, associate professor in Ohio University’s Sports Administra­tion program and president of the Drake Group, a nonprofit that advocates for academic integrity and athlete welfare, said the pandemic marks a tipping point for college sports.

“There is a ton of fat to cut before you get to dropping teams,” he said.

Ridpath said he would start with football, suggesting there are too many coaches and staff members on D-I teams. He also said there should be more regional scheduling for all sports to save travel costs and that a school should have the flexibilit­y to play football at the Division I level but play tennis, golf and other nonrevenue sports at Division III, where there are no athletic scholarshi­ps.

Central Connecticu­t State senior offensive lineman J’Von Brown has been named to the Hero Sports FCS preseason All-America second team. Brown was a preseason All-America selection by two publicatio­ns before having his season cut short to injury last season. A two-time All-Northeast Conference first-team selection, Brown is set to return this season. … Joel Barlow High junior Abby Ota has been named the 2019-20 Gatorade state softball player of the year. Gatorade has gone ahead with awards, in large part based on 2019 accomplish­ments, for spring athletes despite the cancellati­on of the season because of the coronaviru­s. As a sophomore last season, Ota, a shortstop, led the state in hitting with a .725 average and scored 44 runs and stole 28 bases. She is currently the No. 81-rated recruit by Extra Inning Softball and has maintained a 3.11 GPA.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States