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Cal committee: Consider cutting 5-7 sportsIn an effort to reduce the athletic department's annual deficit of $10 million to $13 million, a chancellor's committee has recommended, among a list of options, that the school consider eliminating five to seven teams from the current menu of 27 offered by Cal.
An announcement of moves designed to bring a "financially sustainable path" to Cal's athletic department, with its $70 million budget, is expected from the office of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau by the end of the month.
At a time of university-wide financial duress, the consistent failure of athletics to rein in costs plays poorly on a campus where 19 academic departments had telephone service in faculty offices eliminated and the number of chronic roof leaks was pegged at 63.
The 15-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The Chronicle, was produced by the Chancellor's Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics at Berkeley, composed of four members of the Berkeley faculty and four prominent alumni. It is in fundamental agreement with a recent Academic Senate review of the athletic department, which found that expenses are greater than revenues.
"The level of campus funding necessary to fill that gap is larger than the campus should bear," according to the report.
While commending athletic director Sandy Barbour for "producing an environment of athletic success" and improving the academic standing of athletes, the chancellor's committee noted that her department has built up "unsustainable debt" and said she "needs to make immediate and meaningful changes in managing the costs and budget."
Barbour did not respond to requests for comment on the committee's report, preferring to wait until a decision has been announced.
Cal has 27 men's and women's teams, second most in the Pac-10 to Stanford's 34 and second most in the country among public institutions. The other eight schools in the Pac-10 offer an average of 18.5 men's and women's sports.
Barbour said earlier this year the only sports safe from possible elimination are football, men's and women's basketball, and women's volleyball - all required for membership in the Pac-10.
"It's not a great time at the university at the moment, but we'll work our way through it," said a coach of one of the school's 17 so-called Olympic sports, who asked not to be named.
Across the board
Even the bell-cow sport of football has not been immune from budget constraints.
"Yes, absolutely it affects everyone," coach Jeff Tedford said. "We're no different than any other program on campus. We really tried to trim our budget back and adhere to our responsibilities."
Tedford noted that the Bears bused to Pasadena for the UCLA game last year (which might not have saved significant money but played well in terms of public relations) and that in 2010, he and his assistant coaches voluntarily took part in the university's otherwise mandated furlough program, with a dent to their salaries of 4 to 10 percent.
Tedford and his staff also did not attend the 2010 coaches convention in Orlando, a cost normally incurred by the athletic department.
The committee's report did not recommend specific sports to be eliminated but said the criteria for keeping teams should be based on a record of success on the field and in the classroom and an ability to become self-sufficient financially.
"We should not field a team unable to compete at the highest levels of the sport," the report noted.
Historically, the most successful sports at Cal have been men's rugby, men's crew and men's water polo, but the Bears are also frequently among the best in many other sports, from men's gymnastics to swimming to women's tennis. Some of the sports that have not fared as well of late include men's and women's cross-country and track, and women's gymnastics, lacrosse and field hockey.
The current gap of more than $10 million between expenses and revenue in the Cal athletic department is covered by the chancellor's discretionary fund. The report suggested a $5 million annual ceiling on subsidization of athletics by the campus, effective 2014.
"Every single recommendation will be taken into account," said Dan Mogulof, executive director of UC Berkeley's public relations department. "The options rest with campus senior leadership. It's really a joint effort based on a shared recommendation by everyone that things can't continue along the same financial path they've been on.
"At the same time, we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot."
Philanthropic impact
That's a reference to a major theme of the report by the chancellor's committee, that athletics is a gateway to philanthropic donations that extend beyond sports. According to the report, the university's top 138 lifetime donors to the athletic department have given $280 million to sports and $370 million to academics.
Mogulof said Cal's sports teams are "the tie that binds" alumni to the university, noting, "People make their first foray into philanthropy in athletics, and it goes from there. It's an inseparable part of the whole that is Cal."
Indeed, the committee noted a likely "philanthropic blowback" of as much as $25 million if select sports are eliminated on campus. On the other hand, the athletic department anticipates revenue growth with a new television contract for 2011, reflecting the addition of Colorado and Utah to an eventual Pac-12 Conference in 2012.
"The wild card is the new Pac-12," Mogulof said. "There has to be a good-faith estimate on what the revenue will be. That adds a level of complexity (to the chancellor's decision) and Title IX adds another level of complexity."
If five to seven teams are eliminated and some of the cuts were to women's sports, that could impact Cal's compliance with Title IX, the federal law mandating that educational institutions receiving federal funding provide equal opportunities for all students.
Those involved in sports that could be in jeopardy await the chancellor's decision. Track coach Tony Sandoval tries to take a pragmatic approach.
"Speculation is wasted time," Sandoval said. "I have to deal with the athletes I have. Every (team) has tried to become more efficient with the amount of money we have. You can lose a lot of sleep worrying about it."
