At what point is baseball going to be cut???? With the financing of this sport depending on fund raising and college baseball being cut due to the current state of affairs. When is Cal going to do the same??

https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/furman-baseball-program-cut

There is no need to cut baseball. They have quite a few kids drafted the last few years. It's a solid Pac-12 program. Knowlton is committed to making sure sports will exist. Thankfully he and Christ are in charge.

If football isn't played this year, or shortened, Furman is the tip of the iceberg. Every school is going to have huge budget issues, particularly those that rely on sacrificial paydays with the big boys. Fixed costs for football and no revenue will be disastrous for minor sports. Throw in Title 9, and what happens to baseball? It's the first logical cut.

How much do the donors cover the cost of baseball? Didn't they commit to covering its costs for X amount of time to save it? Those guys know baseball will always be at risk unless they keep paying for it.

I was under the impression that they fundraised enough to endow most, if not all, of the program and continue to invest in the program, paying for the equipment & people who make the streaming happen...and they covered the same for softball as well.

uc, I have said from early on in the shutdown that if college football were not to be played this fall that it was a non-zero possibility that the entirety of D1 college sports come crashing down. My thought is that only 30-40 D1 football schools have the financials to absorb one year of lost FB TV & attendence revenue...
1. SEC
- would they take care of their own so that all 14 survive?
- Would they take care of there own non-revenue sports?)
2. B10 (same questions)
3. BigXII
- It all comes down to whether UT take care of Texas & non-Texas schools?
4. ACC
- how many ADs would survive?
5. Pac-12
- outside of Oregon, UW, USC, Stanford, ASU and maybe UCLA, would any survive without unprecedented giving by donors?
- UCLA included because I am unsure of whether they would need a bailout given the recent struggles as documented by Jon Wilner and where that bailout would come from.

91Cal said:

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I was under the impression that they fundraised enough to endow most, if not all, of the program and continue to invest in the program, paying for the equipment & people who make the streaming happen...and they covered the same for softball as well.

uc, I have said from early on in the shutdown that if college football were not to be played this fall that it was a non-zero possibility that the entirety of D1 college sports come crashing down. My thought is that only 30-40 D1 football schools have the financials to absorb one year of lost FB TV & attendence revenue...
1. SEC
- would they take care of their own so that all 14 survive?
- Would they take care of there own non-revenue sports?)
2. B10 (same questions)
3. BigXII
- It all comes down to whether UT take care of Texas & non-Texas schools?
4. ACC
- how many ADs would survive?
5. Pac-12
- outside of Oregon, UW, USC, Stanford, ASU and maybe UCLA, would any survive without unprecedented giving by donors?
- UCLA included because I am unsure of whether they would need a bailout given the recent struggles as documented by Jon Wilner and where that bailout would come from.

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Thanks 91C. I know they were in the process of raising another 10M in 2018-2019, but I don't think I ever saw the final result.

If Cal has to cut something, I'd rather them cut rugby over baseball (don't mean to offend the rugby-playing nations) because baseball generates more $ than rugby and is much more popular

calbears4ever said:

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If Cal has to cut something, I'd rather them cut rugby over baseball (don't mean to offend the rugby-playing nations) because baseball generates more $ than rugby and is much more popular

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Oh really? Do you have the specifics (revenues/attendance figures) to back-up those claims? Rugby is an endowed sport...in other words, self-supporting, so it won't be cut.

This is from Calbears.com:

"Over the last 20 years, a loyal group of Cal Rugby alumni have in large part endowed the sport at Cal through a fundraising effort entitled "Cal Rugby Forever.""

What men's sports aren't fully endowed/covered by donations (assuming these donations and endowments don't crash due to Covid)? Soccer? Crew? Track/CC? Something tells me golf and tennis pay for themselves.

What about T&F. What money does that generate and it seems it is by far the second largest roster behind football.

During the Andrew Vaughn era, Cal's baseball team was popular and generated a lot of revenue from games, and attendance hit past 1,100 the Stanford series and two against USC. While the revenue is not posted on the website, the attendance showed that they can be popular when they are good, as the Vaughn era proved. Their season hasn't been as good since Vaughn and co were lost to the mlb draft, but they have the talent to get back to regionals next season with their crop of newcomers

The likely problem with cutting track and field is that while it may have the 2nd largest roster of men in athletics, it also probably has the 2nd largest roster of minorities. That count twice for accounting purposes. Right when Berkeley is trying to "diversify" it's student body. Would not be a good look...how about rowing and gymnastics on the chopping block?

BayAreaClubCoach said:

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The likely problem with cutting track and field is that while it may have the 2nd largest roster of men in athletics, it also probably has the 2nd largest roster of minorities. That count twice for accounting purposes. Right when Berkeley is trying to "diversify" it's student body. Would not be a good look...how about rowing and gymnastics on the chopping block?

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Cut rowing and gym? Both are highly successful programs. I don't know about the diversity aspect as I do not see a single Asian or AA on the roster. They are all White as snow. Tennis, soccer, and golf may be ok to go and I mean mens and womens.

Both soccer teams made NCAA's last season and the men improved from 2018 when they did badly in conference play and were left out of the tourney. I don't know how successful the tennis programs have been, but I bet they're not bad; it's gonna be a tough call for AD Knowlton.

The other issue is that the last time they tried to do this, it ticked off a lot of donors who threatened to stop donating to sports AND the academic programs. I believe some of the donors were the really big ones. I'm sure others more knowledgeable can chime in. Knowlton and Christ have a tough road if they have to cut sports.

The best thing to do is increase the donor funds and hope that people will buy more tickets to sports that don't have as big of a revenue as football and men's basketball

My take:

Put them all on the chopping block and make the donors step up.

SFCALBear72 said:

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calbears4ever said:

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If Cal has to cut something, I'd rather them cut rugby over baseball (don't mean to offend the rugby-playing nations) because baseball generates more $ than rugby and is much more popular

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Oh really? Do you have the specifics (revenues/attendance figures) to back-up those claims? Rugby is an endowed sport...in other words, self-supporting, so it won't be cut.


"Over the last 20 years, a loyal group of Cal Rugby alumni have in large part endowed the sport at Cal through a fundraising effort entitled "Cal Rugby Forever.""

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Rugby is NOT fully endowed and costs the athletic department money, every year. Rugby won't be "cut," but it's inevitable that it is relegated to a club sport because that's what it is. This myth that it's anything but that is a problem for the Department.

My sister gets Jack Clark's texts, etc. This month in a fund raiser he stated that they get 50% of their funding from endowments and the rest from donations, ticket sales, etc. Rugby does not get any money from Cal. (https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/16/commentary-cutting-cal-rugby-remains-wrong-answer/)

Instead they have an MOU with Cal through next year that outlines the relationship and costs paid. They pay both direct and indirect expenses from work Cal does for them and that they give Cal $150,000 annually to help fund Lacrosse and women's gymnastics. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3229571-9-12-12-Cal-Rugby-Advisory-Board-MOU-Rugby.html

Does any other program, athletic or academic do the same?

There was a recent post, either on IG or FB asking for money, so I guess they need money. The one thing I heard Esquer say when all this happened after 2011, that his job changed from running to the team, to being in deep with fund raising. Social media is the best way to ask, and I have not seem much from Cal Baseball or Neu other than one post with Darren Baker. It will be interesting.

I suspect that varsity status gives the athletes access to resources that are not available to club athletes.

I would bet you are correct. Admissions help, access to the high performance center and to the study center would be included and as with all varsity sports, rugby pays a portion of those costs.