Arizona Considers Cutting Sports Teams

[Trueblue25]

Guess who’s not back?

The University of Arizona

 

[Newhouser]

Guess who’s not back?

The University of

Arizona

Did I read that right? Someone is proposing selling off sports to a private operator? (Assuming you are referencing their financial woes).

 

[djorange1989]

Guess who’s not back?

The University of Arizona

Um what?

 

[Orangezoo]

Um what?

https://www.si.com/college/2023/11/10/university-of-arizona-considers-cutting-sports-teams-amid-240m-shortage

 

[Trueblue25]

Did I read that right? Someone is proposing selling off sports to a private operator? (Assuming you are referencing their financial woes).

Yessir

 

[upperdeck]

https://www.si.com/college/2023/11/10/university-of-arizona-considers-cutting-sports-teams-amid-240m-shortage

So it costs them 100 million and they came up with 100 million. How does cutting sports cover 240 Million?

 

[djorange1989]

https://www.si.com/college/2023/11/10/university-of-arizona-considers-cutting-sports-teams-amid-240m-shortage

Holy crap

 

[OttoinGrotto]

When I talk about how direct payment to players would destroy higher education as we know it, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Higher education is more important than college sports.

 

[two3zone]

When I talk about how direct payment to players would destroy higher education as we know it, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Higher education is more important than college sports.

This is just another thing that is going to destroy college sports, did I read it right when it said it could lease the athletic departments to outside vendors? Wth is that? If I’m reading that right, would that be like say if SU was leasing there’s, someone like AW could bring is checkbook and run Syracuse Athletics?

This is getting very weird.

 

[NYCCuse826]

When I talk about how direct payment to players would destroy higher education as we know it, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Higher education is more important than college sports.

That's on the university for issuing the loan. Many universities across the country applied for PPP relief and some got it in sums in the 10s of millions. Something happened at Zona which led to bad bookkeeping. This wasn't a minor error and it went ignored for years. Furniture should have been moving after President Robbins announced the numbers. This is something worth termination and an investigation by the state legislature, yet the President is defending the CFO who oversaw the poor accounting. To be a fly on the wall in the room when they started crunching the data.

 

[Cusefan95]

When I talk about how direct payment to players would destroy higher education as we know it, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Higher education is more important than college sports.

Higher education is facing a reckoning anyway. A big issue is cost escalation massively outpaced the value of a college degree over the last 40-50 years, along with a myriad of other issues within the system. Direct payment of athletes wouldn’t help - but it honestly still wouldn’t be in the top 5 biggest issues facing higher education if it did happen.

It’s still not a good idea, and adding problems to the (potentially unresolvable) ones you already have wouldn’t be wise - but it’s not like avoiding direct payment of athletes will allow the current system to maintain itself indefinitely.

 

[AlaskaSU]

I've long thought, and even posted, that this is the inevitable future.

 

[Toga]

The Tostada's Arizona Wildcats

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Higher education is facing a reckoning anyway. A big issue is cost escalation massively outpaced the value of a college degree over the last 40-50 years, along with a myriad of other issues within the system. Direct payment of athletes wouldn’t help - but it honestly still wouldn’t be in the top 5 biggest issues facing higher education if it did happen.

It’s still not a good idea, and adding problems to the (potentially unresolvable) ones you already have wouldn’t be wise - but it’s not like avoiding direct payment of athletes will allow the current system to maintain itself indefinitely.

The only thing I'll disagree with is that it would be top 5.

 

[Brooky03]

We don’t need to go full doomsday over one fiscally irresponsible university.

 

[kingtidge]

The Tostada's Arizona Wildcats

Taco Time!

...all the time.

 

[Orangezoo]

We don’t need to go full doomsday over one fiscally irresponsible university.

They are far from the only school juggling debts and poor financials. Just the first huge name to really talk about separating from sports. WVU and UConn for example both have huge financial issues.

 

[orangenauburn]

They are far from the only school juggling debts and poor financials. Just the first huge name to really talk about separating from sports. WVU and UConn for example both have huge financial issues.

(Clears throat) Rutgers

 

[Orangezoo]

(Clears throat) Rutgers

Mmmhmmm... gotta include smaller programs too I know

 

[Brooky03]

They are far from the only school juggling debts and poor financials. Just the first huge name to really talk about separating from sports. WVU and UConn for example both have huge financial issues.

While true, it’s not indicative of a broader problem. The majority are balancing the two without issue.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

My son goes there (#beardown...hell of a win tonight).

The rub is that there is likely to be a little squeeze in a lot of areas, and it's not impossible a couple sports get cut. But it's won't be a revenue sport.

And Robbins needs to go.

 

[Orangezoo]

While true, it’s not indicative of a broader problem. The majority are balancing the two without issue.

For now yes. The current trends in collegiate sports and higher education as a whole are making it unlikely to be sustainable. It is and always has been a flawed model unfortunately.

 

[llandz]

I believe any decision is up to the Arizona Board of Regents. They ultimately have control over the 3 state universities. I actually represented Chancellor Syverud at the swearing in of Dr. Robbins (full SU regalia and all marching in with all the heads of the universities in the US who sent representatives), and the whole ceremony was AZ Board of Regents this, and that and the Governor etc. I would believe this decision would need to come at a state level.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

I believe any decision is up to the Arizona Board of Regents. They ultimately have control over the 3 state universities. I actually represented Chancellor Syverud at the swearing in of Dr. Robbins (full SU regalia and all marching in with all the heads of the universities in the US who sent representatives), and the whole ceremony was AZ Board of Regents this, and that and the Governor etc. I would believe this decision would need to come at a state level.

Agreed.

We are hearing that out of state scholarships may be slashed and tuition guarantees may be gone. He has 2 years to go after this so HOPING they mean for future classes (I mean we have the word guarantee in writing)...

 

[Cusefan95]

This is just another thing that is going to destroy college sports, did I read it right when it said it could lease the athletic departments to outside vendors? Wth is that? If I’m reading that right, would that be like say if SU was leasing there’s, someone like AW could bring is checkbook and run Syracuse Athletics?

This is getting very weird.

When Janet Yellen spoke to the Senate Banking Committee on 3/16/23, she said “I can assure you that our banking system is sound - Americans can feel confident that their deposits will be there when they need them.”

That means the banking system is now a branch of the US Treasury with the whole value of the US Treasuries behind the banking deposit — there’s no more “risk” essentially. It sounds at first glance like we nationalized banking - but really what happened was that the Treasury is now a subgroup of Wells Fargo, Chase Manhattan, and the large banks. The banking system has cannibalized the Treasury and mobilized the whole of Treasury for its banking. We have completely privatized the system.

So while a public university like Arizona effectively privatizing a portion of itself sounds weird - it probably makes perfect sense to elites running the university since they were brought up in a system - supported by both political parties since the end of WWII - with a goal of privatizing everything (arguably with the exception of education, as the state has great interest in making sure that you don’t get an education which allows you to easily understand anything which I just posted).

So privatization of athletic departments make sense based on our current governing philosophy, it wouldn’t shock me if it starts to happen - and I doubt it will be the only “weird” transition to private control of public assets that we see in the next decade.