You may have read it a dozen times by now, and seen a dozen different kinds of reactions. One thing is for sure, however, and that is that everyone has their own response to the Stanford Cardinal athletics department’s decision to cut 11 sports.
One of those reactions is one of concern. If Stanford has to cut 11 sports, what’s going to save the small school programs or even the big Power-5, major college athletic programs if the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the collegiate athletics landscape?
There are multiple reports of small schools losing millions if football alone doesn’t come back. For instance, if the rest of the Power-5 conferences agree to play a conference-only schedule in 2020, the MAC is scheduled to lose $20 million in guaranteed money. Those figures come from those large guaranteed payout figures that small school programs accept to play the higher level of competition.
The MAC’s potential $20M loss is just a microcosm of the pandemic’s effect on collegiate athletics across the country. Some conferences and institutes have already agreed to move fall sports back to spring or cancel them outright. Others have cut sports entirely, Stanford being one of those.
And as such, Stanford opened up their computers to virtually pen an open letter to the Stanford community.
That is right here.
Then, the Stanford Daily published their own open letter, an open response to the open letter.
That can be found here.
We’re sure we haven’t heard the last from the Stanford Athletics Department just like we haven’t heard the last from the NCAA, small schools, Power-5 conferences, etc. We’ll wait patiently by for any further news on the fall sports landscape and the impact that COVID-19 will have, but until then, here are the rest of the news links for your Stanford Cardinal athletics news from this weekend.
America East Field Hockey schedule update
Moye awarded postgraduate scholarship
Stanford Men’s Basketball team earns All-Academic honors
Stanford cross country teams earn 17 All-Academic honors
Comments
Only a start...
The WCC recently postponed its Fall sports, USF and SCU and SMC are local small private schools which are taking hits in their athletic revenues. But all of the WCC is small private schools, and BYU is the only robustly endowed member. Several other small conferences, especially in the eastern US, have also called off Fall sports. The dominoes should continue to fall as the pandemic continues to surge.
By Candid One on 07.19.20 6:15pm
Apples and Oranges
Despite the Stanford administration’s attempt to justify the elimination of 11 sports as a financial decision, it fairly obviously is not. The letter in opposition is signed primarily by alumni of these sports and I’m certain had they been consulted prior to this decision, they would have kicked in enough to save many of these programs. As I stated in an earlier post, the decision (and its abrupt announcement) is based upon several other factors, the most significant in my opinion being diversity. The rosters of the sports being cut list only a handful of African American or Hispanx students. For reasons unknown, Stanford administrators decided that they would not try to expand the recruiting pool in these sports to make them more diverse. That’s the apples.
The oranges are the actual financial hits that college sports programs will take this year. This is certainly real. But so is the virus. And as thousands of young people throughout the country have shown (as well as some of their dimwitted elders), the virus won’t go away without people wearing masks and socially distancing. Going back to indoor classes and packed-in stadiums is good for scientists who want to study human petri dishes, but not for anyone who wants to stop the spread. So it is silly to expect a pre-vaccine football season. Accept it now and adjust.
By SU74 on 07.21.20 10:57am
I Also Think That Alumni From These Sports Would Have Helped With $$$
…..and I am not certain that much more funding than these sports currently get is really needed ($200 million to be nationally competitive….come on!?)!
If your thesis is correct about diversity motivations, I am truly saddened. Stanford should be bigger than that. These 11 sports do not impact Stanford’s overall diversity initiatives and their elimination would have no impact other than looking at numbers and percentages – not actual people. While "varsity sports", I am not sure how many scholarships are involved which might impact how broad the recruiting might need to go to achieve more "diversity".
As I have said earlier in other posts, I have no problem with Stanford making a decision like this. But I think the last of transparency and process really fail the Stanford community……………….and it looks like they are trying to find some "cover" from the pandemic to push this through in the hope that there will not be too much pushback.
By hoyaparanoia on 07.21.20 11:15am