Stanford joins a growing list of universities that have cut athletic programs in the middle of the pandemic, which eliminated the 2020 guyss and womens NCAA Basketball Tournaments, cut spring sports seasons short and is now threatening to interfere with college football, which is a major revenue source for a lot of Division I athletic departments.
The Cardinal have long supported more athletic programs than most Division I universities. But the letter said that supporting an overall of 36 groups had “end up being a serious and growing monetary obstacle.” Stanford is planning to honor its scholarship dedications to the student-athletes whose groups are being eliminated. The letter likewise stated that agreements of affected coaches will be honored.
” The primary option to this decision would have been a deep and broad decrease in support for all 36 of our university sports, consisting of the removal of scholarships and the erosion of our efforts to draw in and retain the high-caliber coaches and staff required to offer an unparalleled scholar-athletics experience,” the letter said. “After considering the effects of this design, we identified that running our university sports programs in this manner would be antithetical to Stanfords worths and our decision to be outstanding in all that we do.”
USATSI
Stanford University announced Wednesday that it will cut nearly one-third of its Division I sports programs at the end of the 2020-21 scholastic year as the COVID-19 crisis has threatened to worsen an already existing sports department deficit. The move will impact more than 240 student-athletes and 22 coaches, according to a letter from school leadership.
The 11 sports that will be ceased are as follows: mens and womens fencing, field hockey, light-weight rowing, mens rowing, co-ed and womens sailing, squash, integrated swimming, mens volleyball and fumbling. University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne, provost Persis Drell and athletic director Bernard Muir signed the letter which detailed the “heartbreaking news.”
” The decision to discontinue these 11 university sports programs boils down primarily to financial resources and competitive excellence,” the letter said. “With a lot of varsity sports and restricted funds, we would no longer have the ability to support a first-rate sports experience for our student-athletes without making these modifications.”
