The Coronavirus Crew Cut

[crewu]

There really aren't many men's varsity programs left, but how many and which might end up on the chopping block due to budget woes at the end of this coronavirus season?

I am going to present California and Stanford as the two programs in the nation most likely to face doom. Neither will survive this virus. UCSD and GW are probably gone too

[sul]

There really aren't many men's varsity programs left, but how many and which might end up on the chopping block due to budget woes at the end of this coronavirus season?

I am going to present California and Stanford as the two programs in the nation most likely to face doom. Neither will survive this virus. UCSD and GW are probably gone too

Do you have any reasoning behind this prediction other than stir craziness from not being able to row or coach rowing? :^)

Correct me if I'm wrong, the last men's varsity program to get cut was Rutgers about 5 years ago?

[Portside]

Reading just today that college athletic programs will be under added financial pressure related to March Madness cancellation. Big $$$ to Power Five schools. Today’s article brought up the unthinkable, no college football this Fall. In addition, Spring school shutdowns will affect the scholastic eligibility of marginal student athletes and recruits in revenue sports who need to sure up their grades. Stay tuned....

[Magis12]

There really aren't many men's varsity programs left, but how many and which might end up on the chopping block due to budget woes at the end of this coronavirus season?

I am going to present California and Stanford as the two programs in the nation most likely to face doom. Neither will survive this virus. UCSD and GW are probably gone too

I have no idea how to refute this...it seems absolutely crazy to me, but what do I know. I’ll just say that I’ll be absolutely floored if this happens.

[JD]

Agreed with CrewU as to GW and UCDS, but Cal and Stanford are powered by strong outside dollars, not much direct university athletics dollars. Also, both programs are sitting in or next to Silicon Valley, and there is a gob of alumni money there. I don't know what Stanford's athletics endowment is right now, but it was $24M in 1993 and $375M in 2006, so say $1B? That's a chunk of change at, say 4.5%.

[socalstroke]

why GW? It's a private school and they aren't pulling in huge amounts of NCAA $$$.

[porsche5k]

I doubt Cal rowing is affected. I believe they have their own endowment through Friends of Cal Crew. I know their mandatory filings are online somewhere that speak to the size of the balance. I could have sworn it was $10 mil.

[str8four]

Watch out because those endowments people are talking about have taken their own 30% + haircut, and it might get uglier from here. Some university executives and boards will freak out and athletics could take a hit.

On a separate note, how many guys took off a year from school to train for the Olympics in 2020? Will they take off another one now that it is in 2021?

[JT and Ben]

I just saw an article on ESPN that the NCAA is disbursing $375 million less to DI schools than it thought it would. Projected $600 million distribution, actual $225 million distribution. It sounds like that money goes from the NCAA to the Conferences and then from the Conferences to the member schools, so I guess there's a chance for some of the reduced income to be offset by the conferences digging in to their cash reserves (if they have them). They quote the Big 12 commissioner who said that he thought they would be able to make up most of the difference by dipping into the Big 12's cash reserves. The Big 12 is probably the shakiest of the power 5 conferences financially, so I'd bet that schools in the Big Ten (Wisco), Pac 12 (Stanford, Cal, UW), and ACC (Cuse) will be okay too. That doesn't take into account reduced funding for higher ed and athletics from state governments whose budgets are probably shot right now and reduced income from endowments. All that being said, I'd bet that if your program survived 2008 you'll survive this too.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/sto ... hools-375m

[socalstroke]

market returns for those endowments have also been favorable in recent years and fundraising has been aggressive at top tier schools.

[lt.wolf]

We are starting to see some sports getting cut. I have not heard of a rowing program yet.

[socalstroke]

always trying to save football programs . If this last long enough, maybe the mid majors will wise up.

[fullmetal]

I wonder if the endowment fund managers read the tea leaves and pulled out of the markets early enough. Equities would have been the easy play out...but the problem is that most managers assume an inverse relationship between equities and bonds, and if they'd invested bonds, they would have taken a haircut too. Tough times. But if they sat on the cash...I tip my hat. I woud love to go back in time and tell myself to completely exit the market on Feb. 20th or some such.

[bendtheoar]

I wonder if the endowment fund managers read the tea leaves and pulled out of the markets early enough. Equities would have been the easy play out...but the problem is that most managers assume an inverse relationship between equities and bonds, and if they'd invested bonds, they would have taken a haircut too. Tough times. But if they sat on the cash...I tip my hat. I woud love to go back in time and tell myself to completely exit the market on Feb. 20th or some such.

Got to run for a Senate seat and get on the appropriate committee to have that opportunity!!!

[Long'n Strong]

I wonder if the endowment fund managers read the tea leaves and pulled out of the markets early enough. Equities would have been the easy play out...but the problem is that most managers assume an inverse relationship between equities and bonds, and if they'd invested bonds, they would have taken a haircut too. Tough times. But if they sat on the cash...I tip my hat. I woud love to go back in time and tell myself to completely exit the market on Feb. 20th or some such.

Why? I started a new portfolio on February 12th. It's currently up 12%.