UConn could decide to cut sports at today’s trustees meeting
When it comes to cutting sports at UConn, something the school may decide to do as early as Wednesday, there are many possible solutions. None of them are easy. Cut men's golf or tennis? Well, neither program costs a whole lot to run, at least compared to the school's other athletic programs. And both have already raised a good amount of money in pledges to keep their respective programs afloat. Cut baseball? Perhaps you haven't heard of Elliot Ballpark, UConn's sparkling new baseball facility that was slated to open this spring before COVID-19 hit. Or George Springer, or Matt Barnes, or any number of recent UConn alumni in professional baseball. Cut men's soccer? There's a new, 4,000-seat soccer stadium slated to open in August. Plus, the program is popular on campus, and also with the Big East. The league is keeping its nose out of UConn's
business as it makes these tough decisions, but soccer is probably the next-most important sport in the Big East behind men's and women's basketball. Cut football? Well, there is that 40,000-seat stadium in East Hartford. And the fact that the program helps bring in other dollars through its contracts with IMG, Nike, CBS Sports Network, etc. And if the school is still harboring any dreams of someday joining a Power Five league … Cut track and field? Brown planned on doing so, but revised those plans when it realized a large portion of the athletes affected were minorities. Not a good look, especially in these times.
Cut women's tennis or rowing or volleyball? Hello, Title IX. Yes, there are many possible solutions. But all come with complications that go beyond the pain associated with cutting sports.
On Wednesday morning, UConn's
Board of Trustees will meet to adopt a budget for the next school year. The university lost some $30 million over the past few months just by paying back students for room and board they didn't use for half a semester. COVID-19 has brought on unprecedented fiscal worries to schools across the nation.
Against that backdrop, UConn is looking to cut about 25 percent from the nation-high $42.3 million subsidy it provides the athletics department. It will be a gradual process over a three-year period. But it means UConn must cut about $10 million from its sports budget over that time.
And it very well may mean cutting sports. We'll know a lot more by Wednesday.
It has been suggested that as many as eight of the school's 24 varsity sports could be cut. That seems unfathomably high. Which ones could be in trouble?
We know it won't be men's or women's basketball, or football (yet), or men's or women's soccer. It won't be men's or women's ice hockey, either, or the multiple-national champion field hockey program.
Getting into a guessing game seems a bit insensitive, but it's worth noting that swimming and diving programs seem to be the first on the chopping block when schools started cutting programs over the past month. UConn fields both men's and women's swimming and diving teams.
Golf and tennis certainly aren't in the clear, either. Still, there's a chance UConn only cuts two or three programs — or maybe even none at all.
UConn is currently Title IX-compliant, meaning its scholarship and other distributions to men's and women's sports falls within percentage points of being equal to the school's student body population — which is about 51 percent female.
Cutting a women's sport likely means cutting a men's sport, as well — and vice versa. Cut rowing and the 14 or 15 scholarships it provides means cutting a similar number of men's scholarships. It is worth noting that men's tennis provides no scholarships, while the women's team gets about seven.
Then there's this: That $42.2 million subsidy is a bit misleading. Some $18 million of that goes right back to the university through scholarships. If UConn was to charge the athletics department a lower rate on out-ofstate scholarships — bringing their value a bit closer to in-state grants — that could save, say, $5 million right there. Many schools already do this (some don't even charge their sports programs for scholarships).
That's just bookkeeping, you say? Well, then it also means UConn's subsidy is closer to $20 million, not the $40 million figure some national sportswriters are all-too eager to write about.
There are other creative ways to cut into that subsidy. That is athletic director David Benedict and staff's task, and we could find out the exact plan on Wednesday. We will definitely know by July 1.