That is already happening. Bowling Green was supposed to have played Ohio State in football this season. I don't know if it is accurate or not but I heard somewhere that that single game would provide BGSU with nearly half of the athletic department revenue this upcoming year. Akron played Illinois last season and Northwestern the year before that. I'm not sure what Big 10 team they were playing this year but the athletic department has already made preemptive cuts. The same at Eastern Michigan. Just about all of the MAC schools play a Big 10 opponent in football early in the season and that one single game provides significant revenue for the MAC schools.
No question that cuts and changes will occur lots of places but certainly near the high end and at the low end. Schools that rely on football revenue will be in trouble. Esp those non-P5s that rely on a good 'guarantee' game or 2 to pay the bills, as described above. (This is very true in basketball for even more schools btw.) Enrollment is the other revenue source - straight from fees but also dorm and meal plans that support other "auxiliary" things at schools like athletics and PE Centers. So, the financial situation is serious. Not as catastrophic as some here would indicate. Operating budgets and gear are cut first before staff and scholarships. Even schools ending programs will honor kids scholarships. But yes, a lot of 'minor' sports head coaches and lots of assistant coaches in the US are either in trouble already or very very concerned. Esp if they don't have citizenship. But college sports will survive. There's going to be a big 'recalibration' or whatever someone will call it, in terms of priorities and such for sure. I'd say if you have any nice newish facilities right now, you should feel very lucky since not many new ones are coming for a while I'd guess. And women's soccer is certainly one of those sports on the 'more likely to keep' side of the AD's list of sports. Thankfully, women's soccer athletes are generally awesome academically and in the community. And finally - I might start another thread about the recruiting log jam about to occur in college sports. Like a 4-year wave coming at all levels. Feel lucky if your kid is already in a program and feels secure. Roster spots and money are about to be very very tight for a few years.
You know I thought this at first, too ... the 4 year recruiting log jam. But, the more I think about it, I think it will work itself out pretty quickly in most programs. The reason I think this is that college is too expensive to stick around for another semester. Division III schools it will basically be a non-issue because of the cost. And, same for any player paying tuition at a pricey school (which most are these days). I also think coaches will encourage (directly or indirectly) the average or lesser player to move on. They will not want to keep funding that player on scholarship. And, programs will likely be encouraged by their admins to move walk-ons off their rosters so they are not funding (equipment, travel, support services) these non-essential players.
Again, maybe for another thread. But the NCAA allows you to be part time if you are completing a degree program. So smart players will find a way to only have 1 more class that extra Fall for a specific major or minor program and be able to play soccer. So, coaches will realize it's also much cheaper to fund a player only paying for 3 credits for one semester. Others will look for full time grad school programs and the transfer portal will be full of these as well. Many are there already planning for 21-22. You are correct of course about moving lesser players on. It's almost like recruiting your current team again and will be very awkward some places. Your current 2020 freshmen class will have players staying to play in Fall 2024! And the coach may not yet have much idea which one's they want or not. It's going to be a puzzle with literally lots of moving pieces. I would expect that you are not going to see as many 2022 players committing as early or as many overall to your traditional blue chip programs. The coach would already have to know exactly who is staying from their current Jr class for Fall 2022 and what that will cost them AND be sure of their budget. At very many schools, they aren't even training or having regular contact with their players at this point. Lots of variables.
agreed the ‘log jam’ as you put it is already happening. Schools are planning on bringing seniors back and lowering scholarship offers for 2021s, reducing to walk ons, and in some cases just de committing them to keep their seniors. With everyone being given that automatic extra year the next few recruiting classes are going to be the bad end of the deal. On the flip side the transfer portal could blow up too. Some coaches will opt not to keep their seniors and honor their commitment to future recruiting classes so there will be athletes looking for a place and a scholarship for their final year.
Depends on what you think ‘catastrophic’ is but these institutional cuts are happening already and we are only at the beginning the of the academic year. UC Riverside’s head coach sent out an email on the D1 list serve today asking all coaches to sign a petition to keep sports as they are looking at eliminating athletics in their university all together. So the reality is pretty extreme is some instances. Eastern Washington are also looking into eliminating athletics, or changing to division 3. How many other schools that look into these possibilities by the end of the academic year is worrisome.
Spring Season Proposal is out. NCAA will hopefully make a final decision a week from now. Earlier start than I had expected. Spring Season Practice Start Date - Institutional Decision Spring Season First Permissible Game Start Date - February 3 Regular Season Competition End Date - April 24 NCAA Tournament Selection - April 25 Field Size 48 teams / 31 Automatic Qualifiers, 17 At Large bids Tournament Start - April 30 / Championship - between May 13-17
How often are we about to see this happen? Texas Tech season opener vs. Kansas State postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests https://www.soccerwire.com/news/tex...ate-postponed-due-to-positive-covid-19-tests/ Clemson men’s soccer cancels exhibition match after players test positive for COVID-19 https://www.soccerwire.com/news/cle...tch-after-players-test-positive-for-covid-19/ Football Game Postponed After 38 Louisiana Tech Players Test Positive A Saturday football game between Baylor University and Louisiana Tech University was postponed after Louisiana Tech said 38 of its players had tested positive for Covid-19, CBS Sports reports. Louisiana Tech’s athletics director, Tommy McClelland, said a recent hurricane had complicated the program’s safety protocols. “It is obvious that the impact of Hurricane Laura in our community a few weeks ago really sparked our significant increase in numbers,” he said.
Weekly. Some games will go ahead and some will have this happen. I’m guessing winter sports are going to be really impacted by all of this and we could realistically see the ncaa having to somehow pull of a spring season involving every sport, which just won’t be possible. Can 2020 just go away?
Here are some data tidbits on what is planned for this Fall. These do not include conference tournaments, for which the average number of games per team across the board is ~1. Average games to be played, per team for all teams: 8.5 This includes the relatively few teams that are playing non-conference only in the Fall. ACC average games to be played, per team: 9.8 conference and non-conference Big 12: 9.0 conference only SEC: 8.0 conference only Sun Belt: 12.0 conference and non-conference Ordinarily the comparable number of games is 17.2. ********************************** Percentage split between conference and non-conference: 85.1 - 14.9 Ordinary split: 53.6 - 46.4 ********************************** In case there is any doubt, the RPI will not work for sorting out the teams that are playing in the Fall. (1) There are not enough games per team; (2) When conferences play only conference games, the RPI rates the conferences as of equal strength; and (3) the RPI depends on non-conference games to get conference teams in proper relation to teams from other conferences and there are not remotely close to enough non-conference games to accomplish this for the conferences that are playing some non-conference games. It is possible, however, that if there is soccer later in the school year, those schedules combined with the current ones will allow for useful RPI ratings. Whether that happens will depend on what those schedules turn out to be.
Related to good news, the following D1 Texas and Louisiana Women’s college soccer teams have already played two games with no issues. It is fun to watch rosters filled with Dallas-Fort Worth area players! -Stephen F. Austin State University (2 games, 1-0-1) https://sfajacks.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule -Texas State University (2 games, 0–1-1) https://txstatebobcats.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule -University of Louisiana at Lafayette (2 games, 2-0) https://ragincajuns.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule -Abilene Christian University (2 games, 0-1-1) https://acusports.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule
Then I think that is completely wrong. If they are going to play a season with an NCAA Championship they are getting a season in. Either they play or they don't. If they play they should not get a free year. It screws future players, and it hurts the universities financially. Look at what Wisconsin, a power 5 school, said about spring athletes extra year of eligibility. Also, the Ivy League. Wisconsin Won't Allow Spring Sport Senior Athletes to Return in 2021 Wisconsin appears to be the first major college athletics program to say its spring sport athletes cannot return in 2021, though it seems likely that others will follow. On April 2, Ivy League presidents did not approve the one-time exception for fifth-year student athletes despite the NCAA granting spring athletes an extra year of eligibility, according to The Athletic's Dana O'Neil. The league's reported vote will keep student athletes from receiving an extra year of eligibility like other conferences after the NCAA's decision.
University of Minnesota eliminates 4 sports today, cuts staff salaries in some positions, and also eliminate full time positions permanently. It’s not even mid September and programs are being eliminated on an almost weekly basis.
Seems Minnesota may have been forced due to this pandemic to make this decision sooner than it would have liked. From the press release: "...men's indoor track and field, men's outdoor track and field, men's gymnastics and men's tennis at the completion of their 2020-21 competition season. .." within the release: "The decision to eliminate four men's sports, combined with roster adjustments in women's programs (bold added), will result in female and male participation numbers that closely align with our undergraduate campus enrollment percentages, which is approximately 54% female and 46% male." Early in the release: "For the past few years, we had forecasted future sustainability issues, both financial and Title IX related, and although we have directed our efforts to address these challenges while maintaining our current sport offerings, we knew we would be faced with a difficult sports sponsorship decision at some point."
I actually like that Wisconsin and the Ivies have done this. While it really is unfortunate for the seniors and others, it is more unfortunate for the high school kid that is not highly recruited, manages to attract the attention of a program and could possibly get some scholarship money, and ultimately loses any chance of a scholarship due to a 5th year senior hanging around. I like the quote of Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez in the SI article above and he is spot on: "What we tried to do was encourage our seniors to go ahead and, if you're going to graduate, graduate and move on with your life," athletic director Barry Alvarez said Wednesday on his monthly radio show on WIBA-AM. "We appreciate everything that you've done. But move forward. The future is in question, and we can't promise you anything." Alvarez also stated that the NCAA overreacted in restoring a year of eligibility to spring sports athletes amid the global health crisis. Where I can see the added eligibility being useful would be in the case of graduate students that are at a different university than where they earned their undergraduate degree. While many graduate programs, due to their rigor, would not allow the student the ability to also participate in a collegiate sport, there are some that would. While I do not see this scenario happening often, it more than likely will. One of the best examples of an athlete doing this recently is Joe Burrow who quarterbacked LSU to a national championship in football last season. Burrow graduated from Ohio State with two years of athletic eligibility remaining. When it seemed as if he would not beat Dwayne Haskins out for the starting role at Ohio State, he went on to LSU and made history. I was in a discussion with someone on a men's D3 soccer forum and I maintained that I just do not see that many athletes will choose to stay around for a 5th year of athletics - particularly at a costly D3 institution. Most will want to move on with the next phase of life whether it is getting started in the workforce, graduate school, a military commitment, or whatever. This guy claimed that 75% of the kids on his son's D3 soccer team have indicated that they planned on returning for a 5th year. He sated that they were not worried about finding jobs because the alumni network at the school was so strong and waiting a year will not hurt them. While that may certainly be true and in the uncertain economic scenario that the pandemic has thrust upon the world, I just do not see that happening and if it does, it would be ill-advised, IMHO.
I did not see that CPThomas posted this elsewhere. Not many teams are now playing but here is a link to the annual All White Kit soccer schedule - http://woso-stats.ml/college/2020/composite_arpi
Track & field seems as if it is on the chopping block fairly often at schools making cuts. That is unfortunate because it is one of the purest forms of athletics that there is. Additionally, it is not a terribly expensive sport for the school and not a lot of scholarship money is given. I would not be inclined to believe that a lot of money is saved by cutting track & field. I don't understand schools that cut track & field and don't cut cross country. Minnesota has effectively killed their men's XC program by cutting track & field. No serious distance runner will consider Minnesota as an option so that they can only participate in XC. Gymnastics may be low in popularity but there are not many sports that require and demand the amount of sheer strength that gymnastics does.
Men's track and field has been on the chopping block. As a result of the postponing/canceling of fall sports, I began looking up the lesser D1 conferences and some of their college members. It is surprising how many schools do not have men's T&F but do have women's. Some of those schools may still have men's X-C. The scholarship limit for men's T&F including X-C is 12.6, for D1 women it is 18. The same number of events to cover.