Stanford just cut 11 sports for budget reasons, it said

[SoldierGriz]

Very surprised to see men’s rowing on the list. Stanford has a long and storied history when it comes to collegiate rowing. They even sent a few men’s 8-oar boats to the Olympics.

They had 6 Nationally ranked Division 1 wrestlers on their roster this year.

They also hosted the Olympic wrestling regional training center. Wrestling at Stanford started in the late 1800s just after the University opened.

When this is done they will have 2 Athletic Administrators for every 1 coach. No announced cuts to the athletic bureaucracy.

It's not COVID...it's not Title IX.. it is piss poor management.

 

[p8nted]

AN update on why Stanford does not just dip into its endowment

"Stanford says 75% of its endowment money is earmarked for specific purposes by donors, and at a place like Stanford the purposes are overwhelmingly academic. (There are athletic endowments, including the head-coaching positions on many varsity teams.) You can’t just dip into the endowment bank account for whatever needs may arise on campus. Also, endowment spending is capped at five% per year, since the goal is to keep the university well-funded in perpetuity."

https://www.si.com/college/2020/07/09/college-football-season-in-jeopardy-stanford-ivy-league-coronavirus

 

[PlayerRep]

The cost of these sports can’t be significant. Stanford pays the full cost of college for kids making less than probably $150,000. Middle class kids get good grants too, but the parent cost is often too significant for kids to attend.

All affected kids on scholarship will keep their scholarships, so little savings there until they cycle through.

The Stanford endowment is probably fine and will come back in any event. The Nasdaq hit another record high today. The S&P is up 45% since Trump was elected. Stanford is not hurting for money. I went to law school there, as did my daughter, and follow Stanford things.

Stanford was looking at a $25 million dollar hole in the athletic budget. They were deep in the red even before the covid mess. I guess they don’t agree with your priorities.

You don't know what my priorities are. In the future, stick to talking about something you know something about.

I just questioned whether dropping these sports would save much money, at least initially. I don't really care if Stanford eliminates these sports or not, but this isn't going to solve Stanford's budget problems. Budget problems are much much bigger than these little sports. I saw that Stanford will increase its athletic budget problems by $25 million if football isn't played this year.

"The cost-savings from these changes will phase in gradually over the next several years, as Stanford will honor its scholarship commitments to all current student-athletes in the 11 sports during their undergraduate years at Stanford, as well as the contracts of the coaches. Once the phasing is complete, athletics will save approximately $8 million annually as a result of these changes"

I assume "these changes" may include other athletic budget changes, like reducing other salaries, but that wasn't clear from the Stanford release.

Edit: I wonder how the cost of scholarships for this group was treated, and how many were on scholarship. Eliminating an athletic scholarship and replacing it with a need-based scholarship doesn’t save money.

Eliminating these sports will reduce donations from alumni who liked or participated in these sports over the years.

 

[PlayerRep]

AN update on why Stanford does not just dip into its endowment

"Stanford says 75% of its endowment money is earmarked for specific purposes by donors, and at a place like Stanford the purposes are overwhelmingly academic. (There are athletic endowments, including the head-coaching positions on many varsity teams.) You can’t just dip into the endowment bank account for whatever needs may arise on campus. Also, endowment spending is capped at five% per year, since the goal is to keep the university well-funded in perpetuity."

https://www.si.com/college/2020/07/09/college-football-season-in-jeopardy-stanford-ivy-league-coronavirus

True, but the other 25% is there to be used, plus Stanford is in a great position to continue to raise more and more money. Due to tech and Silicon Valley, Stanford has a lot of very rich alumni. Stanford also has financial interests in tech coming out of its research.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Very surprised to see men’s rowing on the list. Stanford has a long and storied history when it comes to collegiate rowing. They even sent a few men’s 8-oar boats to the Olympics.

They had 6 Nationally ranked Division 1 wrestlers on their roster this year.

They also hosted the Olympic wrestling regional training center. Wrestling at Stanford started in the late 1800s just after the University opened.

When this is done they will have 2 Athletic Administrators for every 1 coach. No announced cuts to the athletic bureaucracy.

It's not COVID...it's not Title IX.. it is piss poor management.

I would imagine they’re not done.....many, many colleges across the nation are going to use this as an opportunity to reshape their athletic departments.....and none of that reshaping will be to the benefit of college athletes.

 

[PlayerRep]

They had 6 Nationally ranked Division 1 wrestlers on their roster this year.

They also hosted the Olympic wrestling regional training center. Wrestling at Stanford started in the late 1800s just after the University opened.

When this is done they will have 2 Athletic Administrators for every 1 coach. No announced cuts to the athletic bureaucracy.

It's not COVID...it's not Title IX.. it is piss poor management.

I would imagine they’re not done.....many, many colleges across the nation are going to use this as an opportunity to reshape their athletic departments.....and none of that reshaping will be to the benefit of college athletes.

That's my fear too. I think many college presidents, especially at elite academic schools, just want to downsize athletics. At best, they are happy to say some money by cutting some sports.

 

[Zirg]

All these financially- burdensome sports that schools were forced to have are gonna get dropped. This is just the tip of the iceberg. And if you drop any women's sports (98% of which are unprofitable) , then you have to drop men's sports too (like Stanford Wrestling). You can thank Title IX.

 

[AZGrizFan]

All these financially- burdensome sports that schools were forced to have are gonna get dropped. This is just the tip of the iceberg. And if you drop any women's sports (98% of which are unprofitable) , then you have to drop men's sports too (like Stanford Wrestling). You can thank Title IX.

Well, wrestling is no more profitable that softball or rowing or gymnastics or any of those other money-sucking women’s sports....

to be honest, most schools don’t make money at ANY sports (even football).

There’s going to be a seismic shift in college athletics landscape when the dust all settles....and for a die-hard college sports fan like me, that’s no bueno.

 

[p8nted]

All these financially- burdensome sports that schools were forced to have are gonna get dropped. This is just the tip of the iceberg. And if you drop any women's sports (98% of which are unprofitable) , then you have to drop men's sports too (like Stanford Wrestling). You can thank Title IX.

Most college sports are unprofitable without student fees. male or female

 

[MikeyGriz]

Most college sports are unprofitable, period.