Iowa to discontinue four sports programs

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alltimetwinsfan

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Iowa is dropping men's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming and diving, and men's tennis due to the costs associated with losing the fall football season. If we can play in the winter, some of this will be mitigated, but it's probably safe to say we should get used to this, as this is going to be a trend...and could bring and end to a number of olympic sports on campuses...

From the release:
"The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a financial exigency which threatens our continued ability to adequately support 24 intercollegiate athletics programs at the desired championship level. With the Big Ten Conference’s postponement of fall competition on August 11, UI Athletics now projects lost revenue of approximately $100M and an overall deficit between $60-75M this fiscal year. A loss of this magnitude will take years to overcome. We have a plan to recover, but the journey will be challenging"
 
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The fallout from not playing college football this fall, or any fall sports, is going to be much further reaching than most people realize. The loss of opportunity for thousands of student athletes and other non-athletes moving forward. Reduced scholarships, non-revenue sports being shitcanned, loss of scholarships for non-athletes, etc. The impact of this decision is going to be felt for years and years, without question
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
The fallout from not playing college football this fall, or any fall sports, is going to be much further reaching than most people realize. The loss of opportunity for thousands of student athletes and other non-athletes moving forward. Reduced scholarships, non-revenue sports being shitcanned, loss of scholarships for non-athletes, etc. The impact of this decision is going to be felt for years and years, without question
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Alternately if those sports are super important ... someone could just fund them.
 


It's going to go a lot further than even just losing non-revenue programs and scholarships. This will mean the loss of jobs within Athletic Departments across the league. Staff at every B1G school are going to be letting people go, reducing staff positions, downsizing, etc...
 


BleedGopher said:
It doesn’t work that way.

Ogee’s post nailed it. It’s a shame.

Go Gophers!!
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It could.

And it is telling about what someone's priorities really are.

Oh man I won't pay for it, but I'll bemoan the loss of it ... if I can attach something else I want to it...

It's just dishonestly.
 

alltimetwinsfan said:
Iowa is dropping men's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming and diving, and men's tennis due to the costs associated with losing the fall football season. If we can play in the fall, some of this will be mitigated, but it's probably safe to say we should get used to this, as this is going to be a trend...and could bring and end to a number of olympic sports on campuses...

From the release:
"The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a financial exigency which threatens our continued ability to adequately support 24 intercollegiate athletics programs at the desired championship level. With the Big Ten Conference’s postponement of fall competition on August 11, UI Athletics now projects lost revenue of approximately $100M and an overall deficit between $60-75M this fiscal year. A loss of this magnitude will take years to overcome. We have a plan to recover, but the journey will be challenging"
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That is many more men's scholarships lost than women's scholarships. We're they not Title IX compliant?
 

erickjohnson11 said:
That is many more men's scholarships lost than women's scholarships. We're they not Title IX compliant?
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Iowa's Athletic Department has never been afraid of lawsuits... it's arguably their second most popular sport ;)
 

A natural disaster struck, and it caused an economic recession.

All the negative economic impacts that resulted from the recession ... well, isn't that the nature and definition of a recession??

Why are people falsely trying to frame it as if there was some incorrect choice made? Silly
 



This may mean the loss of men's gymnastics as a Big Ten sport as I believe they were close to the minimum number of participating teams to be a sanctioned, if that's the right word, sport.
 



erickjohnson11 said:
This may mean the loss of men's gymnastics as a Big Ten sport as I believe they were close to the minimum number of participating teams to be a sanctioned, if that's the right word, sport.
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Is there a limit to be a "Big Ten sport", or is that just about playoff type spots / tournaments, and etc?
 



A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Is there a limit to be a "Big Ten sport", or is that just about playoff type spots / tournaments, and etc?
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Six. Any less than that and the conference won't sponsor it, and teams can choose to compete in other conferences or independent. That's why B1G Hockey became a thing when PSU went D1 from club. I can't remember which sport, but I know there was something the B1G was pushing a school to keep it to maintain 6 teams. Might have been lacrosse before Johns Hopkins joined as an associate member?
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
Six. Any less than that and the conference won't sponsor it, and teams can choose to compete in other conferences or independent. That's why B1G Hockey became a thing when PSU went D1 from club. I can't remember which sport, but I know there was something the B1G was pushing a school to keep it to maintain 6 teams. Might have been lacrosse before Johns Hopkins joined as an associate member?
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When Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014, that gave the Big Ten five lacrosse teams, and they convinced Hopkins to join for six. I have no idea if any of those five were considering dropping it, but maybe that's what you're thinking of.

All other men's sponsored sports already had at least six.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
Six. Any less than that and the conference won't sponsor it, and teams can choose to compete in other conferences or independent. That's why B1G Hockey became a thing when PSU went D1 from club. I can't remember which sport, but I know there was something the B1G was pushing a school to keep it to maintain 6 teams. Might have been lacrosse before Johns Hopkins joined as an associate member?
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Yeah Lacrosse had a lot of discussion around the number of teams.

I wonder how B1G chose six? It's not like if only 5 schools care about a sport ... any other school would be upset about them playing it / B1G dealing with it?
 

It is interesting that collegiate sports is collapsing in on itself. The amount of spending on college athletics (not just revenue sports) has absolutely sky rocketed over the last 20 years. The arms race has imploded on everyone.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah Lacrosse had a lot of discussion around the number of teams.

I wonder how B1G chose six? It's not like if only 5 schools care about a sport ... any other school would be upset about them playing it / B1G dealing with it?
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Probably associated with receiving a Pool A bid to NCAA tournaments.
 

Too bad they did not drop boys grappling.
 


Is hockey vulnerable in the B1G? Maybe the Gophers and Badgers will go back to the WCHA.
 

There is no WCHA to go back to. Most of the teams left for the NCHC, and now the WCHA teams that had been leftover for a while are going to call themselves the CCHA. I say the NCHC should just call itself the WCHA again.
 


If they really wanted to keep these programs and weren't just looking for an excuse they totally could have saved them. Waiting to see if a spring football season (revenue) is played was one option. A loan is another. I've heard banks are falling over themselves to lend money to schools right now, and at record low rates. Private donors could have also saved them.

There just wasn't that much will to keep these programs going at Iowa. Probably somewhat Title IX related.
 

fmlizard said:
If they really wanted to keep these programs and weren't just looking for an excuse they totally could have saved them. Waiting to see if a spring football season (revenue) is played was one option. A loan is another. I've heard banks are falling over themselves to lend money to schools right now, and at record low rates. Private donors could have also saved them.

There just wasn't that much will to keep these programs going at Iowa. Probably somewhat Title IX related.
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Yeah that's one thing I don't get.

Ultra low rates ... schools are around a long time.

Financing (assuming you get approval from the school and such) should not be difficult / cheap as water.

That doesn't mean zero cuts, but it shouldn't be the end times...
 


Well, the WCHA concerting over to the CCHA was basically to ditch the Alaska’s and Huntsville. Lo and behold, Huntsville folded (I think? or did it get saved?) and now Anchorage folded.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
It could.

And it is telling about what someone's priorities really are.

Oh man I won't pay for it, but I'll bemoan the loss of it ... if I can attach something else I want to it...

It's just dishonestly.
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Correct

if these spots are that important states could raise taxes to fund them with tax dollars.
 

fmlizard said:
If they really wanted to keep these programs and weren't just looking for an excuse they totally could have saved them. Waiting to see if a spring football season (revenue) is played was one option. A loan is another. I've heard banks are falling over themselves to lend money to schools right now, and at record low rates. Private donors could have also saved them.

There just wasn't that much will to keep these programs going at Iowa. Probably somewhat Title IX related.
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Not every school wants to go into debt even at low interest rates

Especially when 2021 isn’t guaranteed
 

Some guy said:
Not every school wants to go into debt even at low interest rates

Especially when 2021 isn’t guaranteed
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Private donors have saved them in the past. Financial ramifications are severe and donors focus a great deal to the general AD fund. Really a tough ask right now. We already carry huge debt on the athletic village facilities. The department breaks even in a great year.
 

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