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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Editorial: ICA budget

A $1.79 million reduction to the UC Davis Intercollegiate Athletics Department could result in the removal of up to nine teams from the 2010-2011 budget.

While it’s unfortunate fewer opportunities will be available for student-athletes, the decision to cut teams is the only solution given the present budget situation.

UC Davis has always offered a broad-based sports program – one focused on adding teams, not removing them. It was difficult enough, however, for ICA to use its approximately $20 million budget this year to provide sufficient funding for each of its 27 sports. This reduction simply makes it impossible.

UC Davis will remain a broad-based program, even if it removes multiple teams.

Take the rest of the Big West Conference as an example. The Big West sponsors 18 teams for conference play, with the nine schools in the league offering an average of 18.4 ICA sports.

Hypothetically, if UC Davis cuts six teams, it would still have more sports than any other school in the Big West. Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara have the second-most offerings with 20 sports; UC Riverside, meanwhile, provides the least at 15. Given this economy, it’s financially irresponsible to try to field 27 teams.

It’s also unfair to let this situation drag on any further. High schoolers are currently being recruited to play sports at UC Davis that may not exist next year. Current student-athletes are left in limbo, stuck somewhere between hoping their sport isn’t cut and considering schools to potentially transfer to if it were.

If UC Davis is going to remove teams, ICA needs to announce which sports will be cut as soon as possible. It’s only fair to those this difficult transition will affect most.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Football generates revenue by playing big schools like Cal or Stanford who pay smaller schools to play them. UCD football stands to make 500,000 for playing Cal this next year. The better you make your program the more opportunities like that come around and that they can start making money. If you improve your revenue producing programs then you can start adding programs because football, basketball, or baseball are keeping the department afloat.

  2. Analternative plan to cutting sports at UCD must be put forth by the ICA that respects Core Principles and all that they represent. These principles state that UCD cannot reduce it briad-based program, but rather must seek to add sports. UCD scholar athletes work hard and show excellence in both the class room and in athletics. The administratino needs to look elsewhere to make cuts, perhaps in their own salaries.

  3. BrettR, I totally disagree with you in terms of administrative dollars spent at UCD, just look it up. #1Aggie Football Fan brings up good points about how much UCD has in terms of revenue and to cut teams to either UCSB or Cal Poly team #’s or below would mean we would have a bloated athletic budget for less sports.

    Also generating revenue is unrealistic at UCD. How much revenue do you think UCD can really bring in and what sports would be able to do this. Should we cut all sports that don’t generate revenue? UCD has NEVER been about generating revenue and considering that 2/3 of it’s funding comes from the students to support a broad base budget that should be honored.

  4. You are both missing the point. This isn’t about how to save a few bucks here and there, it is about restructuring the athletic department. Our admin costs are right in line with every other school at our level, but as the article states we dillute the money given to each sport by having 27.

    In fact, UC Davis offers more sports than anyone on the West Coast with the exception of Stanford and Cal. Anyone think our budget in terms of total money spent is on par with those two?

    The sad reality is that sports have to be cut. This isn’t about the budget next year or the year after. They are planning for the future and investing in sports that will generate revenue for the entire department.

  5. Interesting information from the US Department of Education. I do question those numbers. Does our football team really make $2 million dollars? I would like to know how that is, considering students don’t have to pay for admission and I don’t recall the games ever to be sold out. And the operating cost of a basketball player is $12,135 each. Wow!

    Why are we cutting so many teams when there are clearly very expensive programs to maintain?

  6. Other schools budget in the bigwest:

    UCSB has a $14.8 million budget for it’s 20 sports

    Cal Poly has $15 million budget for it’s 20 sports

    Why do we need to have a $17.5 million budget for 17-21 sports, why are we so bloated?  Do we really need to cut as many as administration is saying?  (It’s b/c we are bloated administratively) not to mention the recent pay increases that were given to the athletic directors! Excessive adminstrative positions need to be cut before sports are dropped. There is no such thing as aggie pride anymore and this fact is disheartening to alum everywhere.

    This data is from http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/InstDetails.aspx?756e697469643d31313037303526796561723d32303038267264743d332f33302f323031302031313a30333a323320414d

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