Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
·
17m
Akron has eliminated men’s cross country, men’s golf & women’s tennis, sources told
@Stadium

From conference totals, men's cross country and men's golf drops to eight members, and women's tennis drops to seven members. On the surface, it doesn't appear to hurt the MAC all too much.

Unfortunate that these student-athletes' scholarships are not being honored moving forward. Typically, they get covered for the four years (even if a sport is dropped).

Would be interesting to see what the bottom line savings are (both in the immediate and long-term).

(05-14-2020 10:58 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
·
17m
Akron has eliminated men’s cross country, men’s golf & women’s tennis, sources told
@Stadium

The super secret sources being an announcement on the university website..

(05-14-2020 11:11 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  From conference totals, men's cross country and men's golf drops to eight members, and women's tennis drops to seven members. On the surface, it doesn't appear to hurt the MAC all too much.

Unfortunate that these student-athletes' scholarships are not being honored moving forward. Typically, they get covered for the four years (even if a sport is dropped).

Would be interesting to see what the bottom line savings are (both in the immediate and long-term).

$4.4M next year.

It can't be $4.4 Mil just from those 3 sports, as it stated other departmental cuts would be coming. UB cut baseball, Women's rowing, Men's swimming and Men's soccer, for a total of $2 from our budget, without any additional funding cuts to the department.

"The move affects 23 male and 9 female student-athletes. The elimination of these sports, along with salary reductions for select coaches, staff position eliminations, scholarship and operating expenditure reductions will total approximately $4.4 million."

They should eliminate Football. It is by far their biggest money-losing sport.

New stadium, so unlikely.

(05-14-2020 12:12 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  They should eliminate Football. It is by far their biggest money-losing sport.

You can bet that any public college will be under tremendous scrutiny for money losing programs, once this is all over.

The student-athletes won't be allowed to stay on scholarship at Akron? Wow, talk about unethical!

(05-14-2020 12:12 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  They should eliminate Football. It is by far their biggest money-losing sport.

Think about the revenue from TV and playing Nebraska and Clemson, then take another guess.

(05-14-2020 12:35 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(05-14-2020 12:12 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  They should eliminate Football. It is by far their biggest money-losing sport.

Think about the revenue from TV and playing Nebraska and Clemson, then take another guess.

That guy seems to hate football for whatever reason and thinks everyone should drop it.

(05-14-2020 12:46 PM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  

(05-14-2020 12:35 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(05-14-2020 12:12 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  They should eliminate Football. It is by far their biggest money-losing sport.

Think about the revenue from TV and playing Nebraska and Clemson, then take another guess.

That guy seems to hate football for whatever reason and thinks everyone should drop it.

I have been a football fanatic for 50 years. But it is obviously a money loser at many places, like Akron. It is an ego-trip for bigwig alums and admins.

(05-14-2020 12:35 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(05-14-2020 12:12 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  They should eliminate Football. It is by far their biggest money-losing sport.

Think about the revenue from TV and playing Nebraska and Clemson, then take another guess.

No need to guess, the numbers are clear - Akron football loses about $3 million a year. Far more than women's soccer. Football also forces the school to offer a bunch of other money losing sports to meet Title IX requirements.

The huge subsidies from the "academic side" are mostly necessary because of football.

Television and buy money is merely a subsidy for those football losses. I get that the money can aid the full athletic department, but if this amount doesn’t cover football operating costs for some left over for other sports, it still puts all the eyes on football viability.

It’s a shame MAC basketball can’t send more than one team to the tournament each year. The shares would help even a little.

Also per McMurphy—

Atlantic 10 announces it will reduce schedules 25% in field hockey, volleyball, men’s & women’s soccer, baseball, softball & women’s lacrosse; and is reducing conference championships in volleyball, men’s & women’s soccer, baseball, softball & women’s lacrosse to only top 4 teams

(05-14-2020 11:11 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  From conference totals, men's cross country and men's golf drops to eight members, and women's tennis drops to seven members. On the surface, it doesn't appear to hurt the MAC all too much.

Unfortunate that these student-athletes' scholarships are not being honored moving forward. Typically, they get covered for the four years (even if a sport is dropped).

Would be interesting to see what the bottom line savings are (both in the immediate and long-term).

Dropping cross country automatically cuts off part of the track team. You've lost all your 800 and up runners.

Disappointing. I have a soft spot for Akron.

(05-14-2020 01:26 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Television and buy money is merely a subsidy for those football losses. I get that the money can aid the full athletic department, but if this amount doesn’t cover football operating costs for some left over for other sports, it still puts all the eyes on football viability.

The sad fact is, the reason football loses money at places like Akron - and my USF - is that for all the fuss in and around the campus about its alleged cultural importance, the Akron university community simply does not care enough to support it at a financially self-sustaining level. Not enough alumni, students or staff buy tickets to the games, etc. The Akron community speaks with its wallet, so to speak, and they collectively obviously do not think football is valuable.

If they did, football would make money, but they don't, so it doesn't.

When Eastern Michigan cut a couple women's sports a couple years ago or so, the players sued. I don't remember all the details, but if the Akron players feel like they've been treated unfairly, they will sue too.

Also, MAC schools like Akron should already be operating at bare minimum of scholarships/sports.

Almost no sport or university department makes money. It's not all about money and FBS losses way less than FCS at the G5 level. FCS teams do not get 1.9 M from the P5 teams for a buy game.

UMass use to have 27 teams and is down to 21. Baseball is always on the block but some how always survives. Women's rowing has a lot of scholarships and imagine high travel costs. Volley would be way cheaper or even women's hockey as that is a tight footprint. The boat house on the Connecticut River could be sold and is very new with radiant heat. Would suggest those things first but not football. Look where the alumni give. Football donations have been going up even though performance wise has bottomed out.

(Mens's and women's gymnastics and all scholarships were honored, water polo, and forget the others were cut over 10 years ago.)