University of Minnesota Slashing Multiple Men’s Sports Programs Due to Financial Concerns
“Our athletic department is now facing a projected loss of revenue of approximately $75 million just this fiscal year.”
It’s not clear from this article why, or if, only men’s sports programs are being cut.
CBS News in Minnesota reports:
‘It’s Devastating’: University Of Minnesota To Cut Men’s Gymnastics, Tennis, Track And Field Programs In 2021
The University of Minnesota announced several significant program cuts to the Gophers’ athletic department Thursday.
According to the university, the affected programs include: men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field.
The teams and scholarships of those programs will continue through the end of the 2020-21 school year, with the cuts occurring next year.
“Should health and safety precautions allow, these teams will have the opportunity to compete during the 2020-21 season,” the university said in a statement.
In August, the Big Ten Conference postponed all fall sports, impacting football, cross country, volleyball and soccer at the University of Minnesota.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the Big Ten’s decision to postpone fall 2020-21 sports has greatly increased the financial concerns. Our athletic department is now facing a projected loss of revenue of approximately $75 million just this fiscal year. This is a significant deficit and one that will have an impact for years to come,” the university said.
The university said it was determined that the athletic department could not “financially or equitably sustain” 25 varsity programs.
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Comments
If only all the athletes would self-identify as black, female lesbians….. problem solved!
So all the cuts are to men’s sports? There were already roughly as many women’s sports or positions as men’s, due to Title IX. So is the goal to have more opportunities for women than men, even though fewer women are interested?
Because they dare not cut the women’s sports.
This points out the tension between incredibly high COVID costs and the new demands for “social justice” and “anti-racism.” The facts are that Athletic Department staff do not have much productive work at the current time and have lost ticket-sales revenue. (Cornell has put their Athletic Staff to work patrolling the campus looking for Behavioral Compact violations.) In general, the Athletic Dept. staff is younger and more diverse than the faculty. The people who will lose their jobs from these cuts will make a college’s diversity statistics show a lack of progress. On the other hand, the advocates for “social justice” will not consider need cuts to Grievance Studies programs or to the professional counseling staff that has been hired to provide emotional support to minority students.
I personally believe that athletics provides mental health beneifts to a wide-variety of students on campus.
FYI
GW University Reports 17% Enrollment Drop As Students Opt Out Of COVID-Restricted Campus Life
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/gw-university-reports-17-enrollment-drop-students-opt-out-covid-restricted-campus-life