04-15-2021, 01:56 PM
Wrestling gets the most PR and sympathy. Volleyball raised the most money. Thus, you would think those two sports would be the most likely to be saved but you have to save a lot of female sports and Title IX slots to offset those two. Field Hockey is the most prominent women's sport being cut, but it is also a more expensive one. Synchro is a lower cost sport but also doesn't have the deepest alumni pool to pull from for donations. Sailing can raise money and is very Title IX friendly with the women counting for both Coed and Women's team but has stigma of Varsity Blues. Lots of considerations. It will be interesting to see what happens. Gene Sykes as a Stanford board member who is on the athletics sub-committee is in a tough spot. He was in charge of LA's Olympic bid. He is under some heat to resign from his Olympic position given his involvement in the decision to cut all these Olympic sports at Stanford. That can't feel great to him. I would think he would embrace a viable solution if there is one to save these sports.
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/alumni/cont...iger-sykes
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/alumni/cont...iger-sykes