Alumni fight to save college sports
Published Date: 7/16/2020
Source: axios.com
Data: Mat Talk Online; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios242 collegiate athletic programs have been cut amid the pandemic, altering the careers and lives of thousands of student-athletes.Yes, but: Some passionate alumni groups have opted to fight, banding together in hopes of saving the programs they helped build and continue to love.Already saved: Alumni from Bowling Green State University raised $1.5 million for its baseball team, and donors gave Alabama-Huntsville $750,000 for its hockey team.Work in progress: Dartmouth men's and women's Swimming & Diving — among the most recent programs cut — jumped into action immediately with fundraising efforts and a petition to save the team.What they're saying: Hayley Winter ('18), former captain of the Dartmouth Women's Swimming & Diving team, tells Axios that "the posture of the administration is that this is an irrevocable decision," and that "no amount of fundraising could change their position."But the program was cut once before, in 2002. Winter's predecessors fought and won then, and she's hopeful that the team can be saved a second time."We are committed to working with the administration to find a creative solution that meets their goals without cutting our programs," said Winter."The swim team had a tremendous impact on my Dartmouth experience. It instilled in me an unwavering work ethic and allowed me to tap into an expansive and wonderfully supportive alumni network.""I'm genuinely devastated, especially for the existing members of the team. I'm hoping we can turn this around, if for anyone, just for them."Zoom out:Tennis hit hard: Nearly 20% of all cuts have been tennis programs. That's partly due to steep facility costs, but tennis also has the largest foreign participation of any sport (~60% of rosters are not native to the U.S). "There have been some ADs saying, 'Can't have a program of all international students,'" Tim Russell, CEO of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, told SI.Topping the list: Stanford (11), Brown (8), Dartmouth (5), UConn (4) and East Carolina (4) represent 32 of the 61 shuttered D-I programs.Gender breakdown: There's a near-even split of men's (121) and women's (118) programs, with three co-ed programs also being cut.It's not just the NCAA: They lead the way with 176 cuts, but the NJCAA (38), NAIA (16), CCCAA (8) and NCCAA (4) are also affected.Go deeper: Donors to eliminated sports find colleges still keep the money (Sportico)