Northern Iowa & Vermont Dropping Baseball

[star2city]

Northern Iowa Drops Baseball after '09 Season

The University of Northern Iowa is dropping its varsity baseball program after the 2009 season because of budget concerns in the athletic department.

Baseball is the first sport UNI has cut since May 2002 when it dropped swimming and tennis for both men and women. Less than two months later, because of a gender-discrimination lawsuit under Title IX, UNI reinstated women's swimming and women's tennis.

However, due to the economic climate, UNI Interim Provost Jim Lubker said last month the school had outlined ways to trim the budget by up to 20 percent, which would equal about $20 million.

UNI's annual athletic budget is just more than $14 million, with $5.3 coming from the university to meet operating expenses.

"As a university, there are some monumental financial challenges ahead for the next fiscal year," said UNI director of athletics Troy Dannen, who currently oversees 16 varsity sports (nine for women and seven for men). "Obviously, with our department receiving funding from the university, a lot of those challenges will be passed on to us."

The news left former players and incoming recruits stunned and upset..

"It's pretty sickening, like someone punching you in the stomach," said Brandon Douglas, who was the Missouri Valley Conference's MVP last spring and now is in the Detroit Tigers minor-league organization. "I can't believe that UNI would do something like this.

UNI is the state's second Division I school to drop baseball this decade after Iowa State did so in 2001.

Vermont cuts Baseball/Softball as part of budget cuts

[star2city]

Wichita State perspective on UNI dropping baseball

Big news in Valley baseball. Northern Iowa is dropping its program. This is not much of a surprise. In fact, I’m more surprised when Valley schools put money into baseball, such as Illinois State building a new stadium. The Valley schools in the North are fighting an uphill battle. Weather in those places is rarely going to be nice until the season is almost over. They have little chance to build a fan base or play enough good opponents at home to build a decent RPI. I think Northern Iowa coach Rick Heller did a lot with a little. The Panthers played in a rotten off-campus ballpark, battled bad weather and I’m not sure if UNI handed out the full allottment of scholarships. Heller did a good job wringing whatever he could out of that situation.

[star2city]

SEC Baseball Arms Race

College baseball’s landscape is dotted with new or vastly improved facilities in a building boom that could rival what has taken place in Major League Baseball during the past 20 years.

Joining South Carolina this season with significant upgrades are LSU, North Carolina, Mississippi, Miami and Oregon. This comes one year after Tulane, Michigan and Texas did the same.

South Carolina athletics director Eric Hyman believes the baseball program will take a back seat to no other with this new $35.6 million facility.

Attendance across the board in the SEC has pushed the facilities issue to the forefront of many of its member schools, which must calculate the benefit of a new ballpark in what’s become a competitive environment.

“That’s the heart of the issue: Schools are eager to show recruits, advertisers and the whole baseball world they’re committed,” Fitt said. “That’s a huge development for the sport. It really speaks to the health of the sport and which teams really can commit.”

That kind of undertaking isn’t feasible for many schools in other leagues, especially those that continue to see baseball as a sport that must be subsidized, not one that can make money.

Vincent calls the new Alex Box Stadium a revenue generator. He expects a large upturn in attendance will help push profit from $1 million a year to $4 million. Yet he’s well aware that LSU occupies a place in college baseball that many others don’t.

“Every school has to make a decision where to put their resources,” Vincent said.

Bianco knows why resources continue to be committed to his conference’s baseball programs.

“The reason athletic directors build the facilities in the SEC is because the programs are worth it,” he said.

[bincitysioux]

Lacrosse, anyone?

Seriously, are people aware that UND kicked off its baseball season yesterday? And that of a 46 game season, only 7 are scheduled to be played in Grand Forks? Some may argue that this is because of the DI transiton, and that is admittedly a significant factor. But not nearly as significant a factor as the fact that there is still going to be 18 inches of snow on the ground until mid-March and the average temperature will get no better than to hover around freezing until mid-May.

I still can't figure out why UND ever cut the wrestling program when they did..........they should have cut baseball at that time if it was necessary for the axe to fall.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Weather make northern baseball a very difficult affair....

[mksioux]

It seems inevitable that UND will eventually come to the same decision. I can't imagine a scenario where UND will become competitive in baseball at the Division I level. Even if the baseball team were to find a conference, it doesn't change the fact that you can't realistically have any reliable home games until mid-April. And after looking at the schedule, I can't even imagine how much money the baseball team is costing the athletic department this year.

[star2city]

It seems inevitable that UND will eventually come to the same decision. I can't imagine a scenario where UND will become competitive in baseball at the Division I level. Even if the baseball team were to find a conference, it doesn't change the fact that you can't realistically have any reliable home games until mid-April. And after looking at the schedule, I can't even imagine how much money the baseball team is costing the athletic department this year.

Some of the road games this year are guarantee games, so the cost probably isn't that great this year. Next year, when there is a conference schedule (UNC, UVU, UTPA etc), the costs will mount up. If UND could ever gets an indoor practice

facility, that would help with competitiveness (even more than a stadium). The NCAA actually moved back DI baseball's schedule by several weeks this year to help northern schools. What really would need to happen is that the season gets pushed back by another month or more (like the Big Ten was pushing for), so the College World Series would be in early August.

[moser53]

Rumor has it that Kraft Field home of UND baseball is going to have artifical turf.

At a pricetag of about 800,000.00.

Anybody else hear this?

[supersioux]

It would make sense. I would also assume that the cost would be slit between UND, the city (Parks and Rec), and the School District.

[MplsBison]

Of the NDHSAA sports:

Baseball - would be NDSU only if UND drops

M bball - NDSU/UND

M xc - NDSU/UND

M golf - NDSU/UND

M hockey - UND only

M soccer - none

M swimming - UND only

M tennis - UND only

M track - NDSU/UND

Football - NDSU/UND

W bbal - NDSU/UND

W xc - NDSU/UND

W golf - NDSU/UND

W hockey - UND only

W soccer - NDSU/UND

Softball (first NDHSAA sponsered season spring 09) - NDSU/UND

W swimming - UND only

W tennis - UND only

W track - NDSU/UND

Gymnastics - none

Volleyball - NDSU/UND

Wrestling - NDSU only

Not sure how many ND high school athletes are participating in gymnastics and M soccer, but it seems like a shame that they couldn't go to NDSU or UND to play at the highest level in those sports.

[star2city]

Some UNI fans are claiming that Title IX is the real reason for baseball being cut. When the dust settles, UNI will become the second DI school to sponsor varsity rugby (Eastern Illinois has been the first).

UNI's club women's rugby

[mksioux]

Some of the road games this year are guarantee games, so the cost probably isn't that great this year. Next year, when there is a conference schedule (UNC, UVU, UTPA etc), the costs will mount up. If UND could ever gets an indoor practice

facility, that would help with competitiveness (even more than a stadium). The NCAA actually moved back DI baseball's schedule by several weeks this year to help northern schools. What really would need to happen is that the season gets pushed back by another month or more (like the Big Ten was pushing for), so the College World Series would be in early August.

If that were to happen, then I think baseball makes sense at UND. But how likely is that to happen?

[star2city]

If that were to happen, then I think baseball makes sense at UND. But how likely is that to happen?

Probably <1% chance.

A lot of college players participate in non-professional summer leagues, so moving the season would limit their playing and development time even while in college. In addition, most kids that sign a pro contract need to immediately go to a rookie league or short-season "A" team, which all start in late June or early July. College baseball would lose a lot of potential players if they adjusted the season into summer.

The Southern and Western schools are already irked that the Big Ten and other northern schools were able implement a uniform start date for the third week of February (before that, warm-weather schools were scheduling games in late January). Those schools won't be giving more favors to Northern schools, it they can help it. How the Big Ten Stole Baseball