Wrestling is among the 11 sports that Stanford is set to eliminate after the '20-21 academic yeargetty images
Stanford's decision to cut 11 varsity sports at the end of the '20-21 academic year was due to a "forecasted cumulative shortfall" of nearly $70M over the next three years -- a deficit that "could grow even larger if the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt sports seasons," according to David Lombardi of THE ATHLETIC. The school will "cut men's and women's fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men's rowing, co-ed and women's sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men's volleyball and wrestling." This will "reduce Stanford's robust collection" of 36 varsity sports to 25. Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell and AD Bernard Muir all cited "damaging financial effects of the shutdown in an open letter" published yesterday morning. Muir emphasized that difficulties "had taken root even before the pandemic." The athletic department's deficit was "projected to exceed" $12M in FY '21 even before the coronavirus hit. That number doubled to $25M with expected pandemic-related damages. Beyond that, if the '20 college football season is canceled, the Stanford athletic department "stands to lose its largest revenue stream and face a projected annual deficit" of about $50M (THEATHLETIC.com, 7/8).
SIGNS OF THE TIMES: Muir said of the decision, "I don't want to pin all of this on COVID. That's not the case. ... We knew that we were going to take a hit financially from a ticket level (because of coronavirus), depending on if we have football especially, and how many people can be in the stands for that. We know we're going to take a hit sponsorship-wise, we know we're going to take a hit from our development numbers" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/9). SI.com's Pat Forde wrote the Stanford development "tells you where we're going if the current trends continue -- toward the economic obliteration of college sports as we know them." Almost everyone "will be eliminating sports." Absolutely everyone "will be slashing budgets." Scholarships, educational opportunities and jobs "will all disappear in large numbers" (SI.com, 7/8).
