 Northern Iowa’s men’s basketball team reached the Sweet 16 last spring, but budget woes could spell big problems for the university’s athletics program. (David Ulrich) |
Two-hundred grand. That’s about how much money the University of Northern Iowa’s athletic department would lose in annual general-fund support by the year 2015 under a new university budget proposal. According to the university’s president, cutting much more than that seemingly modest amount could lead to the elimination of all 17 sports.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard much buzz about colleges eliminating sports, but the news out of Northern Iowa shows just how tenuously financed some athletics programs are. With states like Iowa and others suffering continued budget woes, and the potential loss of federal stimulus dollars looming, I wonder if we’ll be hearing more stories like this one.
Northern Iowa seems to be in a tougher spot than most athletics departments. Last year it needed to patch a $400,000 shortfall, roughly the cost of its baseball program, so it eliminated the sport. Now the department, which has an $11.6-million budget, 38 percent of which comes from the general fund, must reduce its reliance on state support. Further budget shortfalls could threaten the university’s Division I status, which could cause it to eliminate varsity sports altogether, Benjamin J. Allen, the university’s president, told The Des Moines Register.
Northern Iowa is feeling heat from lawmakers who’ve seen athletic departments at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa wean themselves off state dollars. This year members of the state’s Board of Regents considered an elimination or reduction of sports subsidies at Iowa’s public universities.
Eliminating athletics altogether seems pretty far-fetched. After all, Northern Iowa’s Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this past spring—the Panthers knocked off top-seeded Kansas in one of the tournament’s biggest upsets—should count for something. According to the university, the team’s tournament success led to a 40-percent increase in inquiries from prospective students this year.
12 Responses to After a Reprieve, Talk of Sports Cuts Is Back on the Table
cwinton - September 15, 2010 at 1:23 am
Pardon me while I weep crocodile tears.
gasten - September 15, 2010 at 8:20 am
I am convinced that without athletics the university system across the country would be nothing more than a sad fraction of what it is now. In the end education is obviously the most important take-away for students, but it has been the sports programs that have grabbed their attention, affinity, and opened wallets over time. If they never existed these 30,000 – 40,000 student institutions would have current enrollment of 1500 today and would be nothing more than an afterthought. NPR may do a story on the fruit fly studies at Ohio State now and then, but that would be it.
cmsmw - September 15, 2010 at 9:24 am
Although the excesses of many Division I athletics programs are well-known and well-documented, I think it would be a shame if UNI dropped athletics entirely. Too many folks in this forum seem to think that there’s no intrinsic value to athletics. I disagree, and I say that as someone who wasn’t even particularly successful in that area in my younger days.In short, UNI, keep athletics, but spend wisely. Go to Division III or become a Division I non-scholarship program like Drake University, in your own state capital.
snwiedmann - September 15, 2010 at 10:25 am
Maybe former-NFL QB Kurt Warner can come through for his alma mater.
gasten - September 15, 2010 at 12:02 pm
If UNI were to completely drop athletics, I would predict they would be closing their doors for good in 10 years or they would be forced to reinstate the programs. What a boring place that would be. Chicago could “get away” with dropping athletics decades ago, but their targeted student base is not exactly the norm. Such a move would likely not go so well with the majority of institutions that focus on a different type of student.
tlgriffith18 - September 15, 2010 at 12:22 pm
It would be nice if the Chronicle would recognize that the school is NOT Northern Iowa University, but University of Northern Iowa.
colt123 - September 15, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Gasten, what drug are you on? (or are you making “joke” posts?)
johnburningham - September 15, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Maybe schools should drop all physical sports and concentrate on their primary goal of education. Replace the costly physical sports with academic bowls and on-line gaming. Let the professioanl sports fund their own training for perspective players, they will pay millions of dollars to someone they recruit but give nothing back to the institution for the cost involved in preparing the recruit for their vocation.
gasten - September 15, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Athletics have essentially served as a marketing campaign for higher education for the last 50 – 60 years. Does anybody truly believe the state of higher ed would be what it is today without athletics? The total system is now very healthy and could obviously survive if all institutions dropped athletics at the same time — but there would also be a large degree of atrophy over time. You already have only roughly 44% – 45% male enrollment — what would it be 10 years from now without sports? Is there any question which would thrive if half of all institutions dropped sports and half kept them?colt123, please come down from the ivory tower and mingle amongst us common folk.
11200222 - September 15, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I wonder how much public K-12 schools spend on sports, of all kinds. Would we suggest that gym not be offered in high school? What about art and music? Don’t we bemoan the fact that these things have been largely eliminated in K-12 education? How much does the college Debate Team cost? The campus newspaper? The Counseling Center? I’m not a great sports fan, but sports is one aspect of life, including college life, it appeals to many students, and it doesn’t make much sense to suggest eliminating it. I do think that the quest for Division I is too costly for many schools, and dropping back to D-III makes sense. Only a few D-I programs actually make money, but there are many things in academia that do not make money, but which are nevertheless an important part of the college experience. I would hate to see my university become a place where the only thing students could do is take their classes and then go home.
bwolverton - September 15, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Thanks for pointing that out, tlgriffith18, I corrected my mistake. –Brad Wolverton
jfritch - September 15, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I don’t think you want to compare the cost of the debate team at UNI to the athletic programs. We could have 8 debate teams for the cost of the baseball team.