Stanford is dropping 11 sports

[terry]

This is from an open letter from Stanford --

We are writing today with some extremely difficult news. In consultation with the Board of Trustees, we have made the decision to reduce the breadth of our athletics programs and staffing. Stanford will discontinue 11 of our varsity sports programs at the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year: 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. All of these teams will have the opportunity to compete in their upcoming 2020-21 seasons, should the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 allow it, before they are discontinued at the varsity level. Regretfully, 20 of our support staff positions are being eliminated as part of this realignment.

Full letter here--

https://news.stanford.edu/2020/07/08/ath...ampaign=an

[BobK]

Very very sad. The end of an era.

[Hank 91]

No disrespect to the athletes of the other ten sports, but I’m stunned that men’s volleyball is being cut. Absolutely stunned.

[PVTree]

That sux! I never thought I'd see the day when Stanford eliminates a bunch of programs at the same time, especially one that is competitive and wins championships, such as men's volleyball.

[needle]

That sux! I never thought I'd see the day when Stanford eliminates a bunch of programs at the same time, especially one that is competitive and wins championships, such as men's volleyball.

A very sad day. What is the backstory on this, and did the Varsity Blues scandal play any role?

[gailtate]

This is from an open letter from Stanford --



We are writing today with some extremely difficult news. In consultation with the Board of Trustees, we have made the decision to reduce the breadth of our athletics programs and staffing. Stanford will discontinue 11 of our varsity sports programs at the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year: 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. All of these teams will have the opportunity to compete in their upcoming 2020-21 seasons, should the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 allow it, before they are discontinued at the varsity level. Regretfully, 20 of our support staff positions are being eliminated as part of this realignment.



Hey, those t-shirts are gonn be collector$ item$.





https://news.stanford.edu/2020/07/08/ath...ampaign=an

Hey, those tee-shirts are gonna be collector$ item$.

[PVTree]

That sux! I never thought I'd see the day when Stanford eliminates a bunch of programs at the same time, especially one that is competitive and wins championships, such as men's volleyball.

A very sad day. What is the backstory on this, and did the Varsity Blues scandal play any role?

According to the story on gostanford, it is purely a financial decision. It states that it is unsustainable to move forward with 36 sports.

[terry]

We're losing four Directors' Cup scoring sports -- fencing, field hockey, men's volleyball, and wrestling. I doubt whether those sports would ever account for enough Directors' Cup points to make a difference, but I guess you never know.

[82lsju]

That sux! I never thought I'd see the day when Stanford eliminates a bunch of programs at the same time, especially one that is competitive and wins championships, such as men's volleyball.

A very sad day. What is the backstory on this, and did the Varsity Blues scandal play any role?

from the posting

Due to the escalating costs of operating such a large athletics department, a structural deficit emerged several years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. That deficit was projected to exceed $12 million in FY21 and to grow steadily in the years ahead. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated recession have only exacerbated the gap; before these sport reductions, our revised forecasts indicated a best-case scenario of a $25 million deficit in FY21, factoring in the effects of COVID-19, and a cumulative shortfall of nearly $70 million over the next three years. These projected deficits could become much greater if the 2020-21 sports seasons are suspended or altered due to COVID-19.
...
We have investigated a wide variety of alternatives – ticket sales, broadcast revenue, university funding, philanthropic support, operating budget reductions and many others – and found them insufficient to meet the magnitude of the financial challenge before us. While Stanford may be perceived to have limitless resources, the truth is that we do not. In general, Athletics has been a self-sustaining entity on our campus, and we are striving to preserve that model in a time when budgetary support for our academic mission is already under significant stress.
...
We have calculated that the total incremental funding needed to permanently sustain these 11 sports at a nationally competitive varsity level exceeds $200 million.

Why these 11 sports?
These 11 sports were decided upon after a comprehensive evaluation of all of our sports across a broad set of criteria and considerations, including, but not limited to:

• Sponsorship of the sport at the NCAA Division I level
  
  
• National youth and postgraduate participation in the sport
  
  
• Local and national fan interest in the sport
  
  
• Potential expense savings from the elimination of the sport
  
  
• Incremental investments required to keep or put the sport in a position to achieve competitive excellence on the national level
  
  
• History of the sport at Stanford
  
  
• Prospects for future success of the sport at Stanford
  
  
• Impact on gender equity and Title IX compliance
  
  
• Impact on the diversity of our student-athlete population
  
  
• Impact on the student-athlete experience across all sports, now and in the future
  

For example, simply looking at sponsorship of the sports at a national level as one consideration:

• Of the 11 sports being discontinued, six (lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming) are not NCAA-sponsored championship sports.
  

• All 11 sports being discontinued are sponsored by less than 22% of the more than 350 Division I institutions, and nine (men’s and women’s fencing, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball) are sponsored by less than 9%.
  

• There are only two other Division I field hockey programs on the West Coast, and there are no other fencing, lightweight rowing, sailing, squash or synchronized swimming programs on the West Coast.
  

Many of these sports currently compete without a full complement of scholarships (e.g. wrestling), coaches and resources. After careful analysis, we concluded there was no realistic path to ensuring that they have all of the resources needed to compete at the highest level without hindering our ability to support our other 25 varsity sports.

https://news.stanford.edu/2020/07/08/ath...ampaign=an

[Mick]

I'm devastated.  While I recognize financial reality, it saddens me beyond belief that Stanford can't support all of those supports.  It's a genuine shame.  But we don't sell enough football or MVB tickets, so something had to go.

20 national championships. 27 Olympic medals.

So they're keeping softball and eliminating men's volleyball.  Makes all the sense in the world.

[needle]

That sux! I never thought I'd see the day when Stanford eliminates a bunch of programs at the same time, especially one that is competitive and wins championships, such as men's volleyball.

A very sad day. What is the backstory on this, and did the Varsity Blues scandal play any role?

According to the story on gostanford, it is purely a financial decision. It states that it is unsustainable to move forward with 36 sports.

How big of a factor in this decision is the revenue (perhaps declining) from football? The open letter says nothing about that.

Apart from finances--and this is just my impression--it just feels that Stanford is more and more interested in following what other schools do than charting its own course. 

I only know for sure that it's a sad day.

[Mr. Baseball]

I think this is a tragedy. This is Stanford University, home of national champions and developer of Olympians.  Yes these sports lose money but they make up for it in the prestige generated. Stanford has the money. Find a way. We're not Cal for goodness sakes!

[BobK]

A step closer to no Football and a bigger step forward to no Fall sports other than maybe football.

[teejers1]

I'm devastated.  While I recognize financial reality, it saddens me beyond belief that Stanford can't support all of those supports.  It's a genuine shame.  But we don't sell enough football or MVB tickets, so something had to go.

20 national championships.  27 Olympic medals.

So they're keeping softball and eliminating men's volleyball.  Makes all the sense in the world.

Mick, you know it's not acceptable to criticize Shaw and his boring/underperforming offense ==> unmet potential and lagging ticket sales/revenue for the AD.  We all "know" he is the best football coach since . . . like ever!

Fortunately, he doesn't command a big salar . . . um . . . never mind.

And in fairness, men's basketball ticket sales haven't been good, either (though I suspect the trend line on that is up while for football it continues down).

[Langdude]

Ugh. This is just awful.

Men’s volleyball is the biggest gut punch. A prestigious program. My guess is that they needed to cut MVB and not softball to stay within Title IX compliance, which is ridiculous.

-m.

[BobK]

In Softball’s most recent season they made the NCAAs.

[terry]

Ugh. This is just awful.

My guess is that they needed to cut MVB and not softball to stay within Title IX compliance, which is ridiculous.

I imagine Title IX was part of it. But also, men's volleyball unfortunately is a niche sport compared to softball. Just 23 Division I schools sponsor men's volleyball, compared to 296 Div. I schools that sponsor women's softball.

[Farm93]

I'm devastated.  While I recognize financial reality, it saddens me beyond belief that Stanford can't support all of those supports.  It's a genuine shame.  But we don't sell enough football or MVB tickets, so something had to go.

20 national championships.  27 Olympic medals.

So they're keeping softball and eliminating men's volleyball.  Makes all the sense in the world.

Softball is a title IX darling now in the Big12 and SEC that means the reasons noted for the sports cut by the AD don't apply for softball.  The sport remains a high profile sport for girls in CA and it is more competitive at a national D1 level than ever before.   Also, Stanford has a lovely stadium only suitable for softball that was built not too long ago. 

I am a bit disappointed the AD didn't try that to message to save those sports, but perhaps the Stanford AD didn't want to use the UCB AD approach.

FWIW - Football could have been national champs last year, they would still sell the same number of tickets this year.  ZERO.
The school actually has been selling most of Stanford stadium thanks to a decade of excellence far above any level that could be included in a long range planning exercise.  Attendance was a different issue, but ticket sales were OK for the last 5 years.   If/when Stanford returns to a decade of 4-8, 5-7, 6-6, 7-5 type seasons, a rate aligned to our historic averages, the AD's budget would simply be too bloated.

Of the group only Men's volleyball is a shock, and I hope it would stay since most those that play the sport are in CA.  Hopefully we can have a Cal Baseball style effort to keep it going.   Though, as my kids spent a couple of seasons playing in the Maples stands during MVB, even the championship season, I can assure you that not many people attended MVB games.

Sad times - 

Schools in the USA will eliminate a lot more than a lower profile sports at the end of this year, and other schools will just fold completely.   There is this pandemic thingy floating around that will change our normal for quite a while.  I suspect losing a few non-revenue sports will not be the most dramatic change to Stanford University in the next 6 months.

[Leftcoast]

Very sad news.  I'm thinking of all the joy I've had watching Men's volleyball in the NCAA tournaments and Maples/Burnham plus all the joy of following Men's volleyball alumni in the Olympics.  

With a history of success, Alumni fanbase, West coast competitors (and thus less expensive travel cost) and so on, the stated criteria this sport fails is % of NCAA Div 1 programs and maybe Title-9 balance.  Was that enough for Men's Volleyball to make this list?

[JJJ]

I had no idea but heard from someone close to the MVB program that this was not a surprise. I was most certainly caught off guard and wish it were not so.