Lomiton said:
P5 Unis would cancel a bunch of so-called Olympic sports for both men and women. One thing that no one wants to publicly discuss is that if football and b'ball players get a piece of the action, many women's sports will be on the chopping block as well.
Big Dog: Why would they have to cancel a bunch of sports? Could we perhaps look at self-funding by raising money in the form of an endowment? Could we look at expenses, both of individual sports and the athletic department as a whole? Or is it your belief that P5 Universities would just get out the cleaver and cut because that's what they've always wanted to do anyway and this will give them a good excuse to do it?
Of course, a sport could look to raise its own funds, but that is unlikely to work long term for most sports; its just not practical. Football and men's basketball are profitable and support the other sports offered by the Uni, including women's sports.
And bcos of Title IX, any men's sport will have to raise enough to cover not only its own expenses but an appropriate number of scholarships for the same amount of women. Men's Cross Country could not exist, for example, unless there was a Women's Cross country team (or at least another women's sport and scholarships).
In particular, Cal Athletic Department runs a deficit. Baseball tried to endow itself at Cal and is still short of its $$ goal. If xx millions were given over to the players, that money has to come from somewhere, and it certainly won't be the academic side. So cuts will have to be made.