We call upon the NCAA and President Mark Emmert to uphold the minimum number of sports required to maintain NCAA Division I status. Though we fully realize the challenge of funding a collegiate athletic department, the current pandemic and subsequent anticipated financial shortfalls should not be used as a means to reduce sports sponsorship requirements. No NCAA sport program should be cut! 

The NCAA Division I Manual does not delineate one sport over another and states, quite clearly, that an athletics program as a whole is to be a vital part of the educational system. Any reduction in sport offerings runs counter to the Constitution of the NCAA.  Specifically, in Principles for Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics, principle 2.10 states that “it’s members shall promote opportunity from equity in competition to assure that individual student-athletes and institutions will not be prevented unfairly from achieving the benefits inherent in participation in intercollegiate athletics.”

In the past decade, NCAA member programs have experienced unprecedented financial growth in staffing, salaries, building, and revenue. Most of all, this growth has created opportunities – including opportunities for 141,483 Division I students in Olympic Sports. Eliminating these opportunities runs counter to the NCAA’s principles.  Any effort to reduce sports sponsorship requirements will fall exclusively on the backs of the very athletes who epitomize the notion of a student-athlete.  No NCAA sport program should be cut! 

When an institution opts to pursue Division I membership they commit to high standards. Student-athletes are no different and when faced with an obstacle they don’t lower their standards. They redouble their commitment. We should expect the same of our institutions.

The value of sport comes not from wins and losses, but rather from the educational experiences they provide. The educational experience comes not from taking an airplane instead of a bus or from having a new set of uniforms for every game. There are numerous avenues to provide meaningful and lasting financial relief, however, eliminating opportunities for young men and women should not be one of them.  No NCAA sport program should be cut!