UC cutting men's soccer leaves the AAC with six members for men's soccer (Memphis, USF, UCF, SMU, Temple and Tulsa).

First non-revenue program cut, but won't be the last - what with pretty much every school taking a minimum $1 to $2 million hit due to the pandemic.

That's pretty big news.

(04-14-2020 11:05 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  First non-revenue program cut, but won't be the last - what with pretty much every school taking a minimum $1 to $2 million hit due to the pandemic.

The losses will be far larger than that. IMO pretty much everyone in FBS, and many other D-I programs, should be budgeting on the basis of their 2020 ticket sales and donations being 50% or less of the ticket sales and donations that they had in 2019. Other sources of athletic department money are likely to be way down as well. TV revenue is still up in the air. ESPN and Fox are not going to make full payments in 2020 unless they get every telecast that the contracts specify, and it's very unlikely that they will.

When asked, our AD said that we will be receiving around 800k less from the Sun Belt/NCAA, and according to Equity in Athletics, we saved around 875k in operating expenses for canceled spring sports. He didn't seem to worried about finances right now, but expressed how important having a football season will be for our athletic budget.

One good thing about being poor is that we - along with several other Sun Belt schools - don't plan our athletic budgets around large tv and advertising payouts. We were getting scraps before and we're getting scraps now. That leads me to think the Sun Belt and other conferences like it will be okay for now.

There is going to be a lot of programs dropped in all kind of sports in the near future due to reduced revenue. Many schools have been living past their means in sports for a number of years, and this virus thing is going to really affect colleges going forward.#sad

Im afraid 2020-2021 is going to be a very tough year for college sports.

(04-14-2020 12:13 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 11:05 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  First non-revenue program cut, but won't be the last - what with pretty much every school taking a minimum $1 to $2 million hit due to the pandemic.

The losses will be far larger than that. IMO pretty much everyone in FBS, and many other D-I programs, should be budgeting on the basis of their 2020 ticket sales and donations being 50% or less of the ticket sales and donations that they had in 2019. Other sources of athletic department money are likely to be way down as well. TV revenue is still up in the air. ESPN and Fox are not going to make full payments in 2020 unless they get every telecast that the contracts specify, and it's very unlikely that they will.

I suspect everybody outside the Ivy, Big 10 and Pac 12 will cut back closer to the minimum. You aren't going to see any other schools with 24 or 25 sports.

And I think you will see some cutting in Big 10 and Pac 12.

(04-14-2020 12:53 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Im afraid 2020-2021 is going to be a very tough year for college sports.

It's significant because dropping a sport is a big deal for a school, usually done under extreme circumstances.

Cincy isn't Ohio State, but considering the entire edifice of college athletics from P5 down to JUCO, it is surely in the top 1% in terms of power and resources. So this means the pain is coming fast and hard even near the very top of the pyramid.

@PeteThamel

@YahooSports
obtained a letter from Group of 5 Commissioners to NCAA President Mark Emmert asking for "temporary relief from several regulatory (NCAA) requirements for a period of up to 4 years." Among them are sports sponsorships minimums, which hints at more sports cuts.

Well, the Big 12 doesn’t sponsor men’s soccer anyways.

We're seeing athletics departments with mid-8 figures of revenue (and beyond) telling spring sports seniors they won't get another year and that some sport are going to get cut altogether.

Does anyone really still doubt that if we start the arms race of paying players there won't inevitably be more scholarships for non-revenue sports on the chopping block?

(04-14-2020 01:10 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  @PeteThamel

@YahooSports
obtained a letter from Group of 5 Commissioners to NCAA President Mark Emmert asking for "temporary relief from several regulatory (NCAA) requirements for a period of up to 4 years." Among them are sports sponsorships minimums, which hints at more sports cuts.

More detail:

Quote:Pete Thamel
@PeteThamel

The "regulatory requirements" that Group of 5 Commissioners are looking from relief from include: Sports Sponsorships, Football Attendance requirements, Football Scheduling requirements, Additional Financial Aid Requirements and minimum contests that sports must play.

10:41 AM · Apr 14, 2020·Twitter Web App

They are asking the NCAA to waive every significant FBS/D-I requirement for athletic departments.

-- Minimum number of varsity sports (requirements are at least 6 men's sports, at least 8 women's sports, total of at least 16 varsity sports)
-- Minimum football attendance
-- Minimum number of games required in each sport
-- Minimum number of FBS opponents (in football) or D-I opponents (in other sports)
-- Minimum number of athletic scholarships each school has to award

And although not mentioned in Thamel's report, no doubt they also want the NCAA to waive academic progress (APR) rules, based on the argument that it will be difficult to monitor athletes' academic progress if they are taking online classes.

(04-14-2020 02:08 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 01:10 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  @PeteThamel

@YahooSports
obtained a letter from Group of 5 Commissioners to NCAA President Mark Emmert asking for "temporary relief from several regulatory (NCAA) requirements for a period of up to 4 years." Among them are sports sponsorships minimums, which hints at more sports cuts.

More detail:

Quote:Pete Thamel
@PeteThamel

The "regulatory requirements" that Group of 5 Commissioners are looking from relief from include: Sports Sponsorships, Football Attendance requirements, Football Scheduling requirements, Additional Financial Aid Requirements and minimum contests that sports must play.

10:41 AM · Apr 14, 2020·Twitter Web App

They are asking the NCAA to waive every significant FBS/D-I requirement for athletic departments.

-- Minimum number of varsity sports (requirements are at least 6 men's sports, at least 8 women's sports, total of at least 16 varsity sports)
-- Minimum football attendance
-- Minimum number of games required in each sport
-- Minimum number of FBS opponents (in football) or D-I opponents (in other sports)
-- Minimum number of athletic scholarships each school has to award

And although not mentioned in Thamel's report, no doubt they also want the NCAA to waive academic progress (APR) rules, based on the argument that it will be difficult to monitor athletes' academic progress if they are taking online classes.

Interesting. Say they do waive to 12 sports, waive attendance, waive minimum number of FBS opponents, etc.

Then a bunch of FCS schools, already meeting the minimum requirements already except the FBS scheduling, declare themselves all FBS at once, start a new conference!


Maybe NoDak knew about the upcoming pandemic years ago, and this was the needed trigger!!

(04-14-2020 02:18 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 02:08 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 01:10 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  @PeteThamel

@YahooSports
obtained a letter from Group of 5 Commissioners to NCAA President Mark Emmert asking for "temporary relief from several regulatory (NCAA) requirements for a period of up to 4 years." Among them are sports sponsorships minimums, which hints at more sports cuts.

More detail:

Quote:Pete Thamel
@PeteThamel

The "regulatory requirements" that Group of 5 Commissioners are looking from relief from include: Sports Sponsorships, Football Attendance requirements, Football Scheduling requirements, Additional Financial Aid Requirements and minimum contests that sports must play.

10:41 AM · Apr 14, 2020·Twitter Web App

They are asking the NCAA to waive every significant FBS/D-I requirement for athletic departments.

-- Minimum number of varsity sports (requirements are at least 6 men's sports, at least 8 women's sports, total of at least 16 varsity sports)
-- Minimum football attendance
-- Minimum number of games required in each sport
-- Minimum number of FBS opponents (in football) or D-I opponents (in other sports)
-- Minimum number of athletic scholarships each school has to award

And although not mentioned in Thamel's report, no doubt they also want the NCAA to waive academic progress (APR) rules, based on the argument that it will be difficult to monitor athletes' academic progress if they are taking online classes.

Interesting. Say they do waive to 12 sports, waive attendance, waive minimum number of FBS opponents, etc.

Then a bunch of FCS schools, already meeting the minimum requirements already except the FBS scheduling, declare themselves all FBS at once, start a new conference!

If you permit FBS programs to stay in FBS while only meeting FCS or even D-II requirements, then there's going to be an argument that FCS programs should be able to automatically reclassify to FBS, or that D-II or D-III athletic departments should be able to automatically reclassify to Division I.

Another problem, related to the first, is asking for a four-year waiver. That's such a long time in a bureaucratic sense that it's not that much different from asking that the rules be discarded permanently. A four-year waiver amounts to opening up a Pandora's Box of possible futures for what is now Division I.

Waiver should be one or two years IMO.

If the NCAA waives minimum teams requirements, expect men's sports to be on the chop-block because (a) Title IX still protects women's sports, and (b) football is the Sacred Cow that the other sports will be sacrificed to.

(04-14-2020 02:36 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 02:18 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 02:08 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-14-2020 01:10 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  @PeteThamel

@YahooSports
obtained a letter from Group of 5 Commissioners to NCAA President Mark Emmert asking for "temporary relief from several regulatory (NCAA) requirements for a period of up to 4 years." Among them are sports sponsorships minimums, which hints at more sports cuts.

More detail:

Quote:Pete Thamel
@PeteThamel

The "regulatory requirements" that Group of 5 Commissioners are looking from relief from include: Sports Sponsorships, Football Attendance requirements, Football Scheduling requirements, Additional Financial Aid Requirements and minimum contests that sports must play.

10:41 AM · Apr 14, 2020·Twitter Web App

They are asking the NCAA to waive every significant FBS/D-I requirement for athletic departments.

-- Minimum number of varsity sports (requirements are at least 6 men's sports, at least 8 women's sports, total of at least 16 varsity sports)
-- Minimum football attendance
-- Minimum number of games required in each sport
-- Minimum number of FBS opponents (in football) or D-I opponents (in other sports)
-- Minimum number of athletic scholarships each school has to award

And although not mentioned in Thamel's report, no doubt they also want the NCAA to waive academic progress (APR) rules, based on the argument that it will be difficult to monitor athletes' academic progress if they are taking online classes.

Interesting. Say they do waive to 12 sports, waive attendance, waive minimum number of FBS opponents, etc.

Then a bunch of FCS schools, already meeting the minimum requirements already except the FBS scheduling, declare themselves all FBS at once, start a new conference!

If you permit FBS programs to stay in FBS while only meeting FCS or even D-II requirements, then there's going to be an argument that FCS programs should be able to automatically reclassify to FBS, or that D-II or D-III athletic departments should be able to automatically reclassify to Division I.

Another problem, related to the first, is asking for a four-year waiver. That's such a long time in a bureaucratic sense that it's not that much different from asking that the rules be discarded permanently. A four-year waiver amounts to opening up a Pandora's Box of possible futures for what is now Division I.

Agreed with your second point but I don't see the first as necessarily being true. If its temporary then there must be enough time to resolve the matter. It's a placeholder until the situation is fixed. I think the better argument is from a anti-trust standpoint in that you can't join FBS unless you have a pending invite from an FBS conference, barring some obscure waiver like what Liberty received.

I think any school or conference should be able to join or leave whenever they want. I also don't think there should be a waiting period to compete in post-season games. That being said, bowls games and media deals and the like are not a required benefit for everyone in FBS.

"If it's temporary" -- If the people in charge are smart (maybe they are, maybe not) then the way to emphasize that it's temporary is to make the waiver as limited as possible and make it a one-year waiver. Tell them, if your situation is just as bad 12 months from now, come back to us then and we'll talk about a waiver for another year.

(04-14-2020 02:56 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  If the NCAA waives minimum teams requirements, expect men's sports to be on the chop-block because (a) Title IX still protects women's sports, and (b) football is the Sacred Cow that the other sports will be sacrificed to.

Totally Agree!