BU 2020-21 Season: The Road to … Nowhere?

[ericredaxe]

Apropos of nothing, but if the Ivies and RPI and Union cancel hockey next season, could that be the end of hockey at those institutions?

What makes you think they will cancel hockey next season? That is a long way off with a lot of vaccines rolling out between now and then.

 

[Bomber]

I leave the thread for 12 hours and buoldtimer/JD/Lemonade cancelled 8 D1 programs, complete with multiple National Championships. Talk about Cancel Culture!! *smilie*

 

[Lemonade]

I leave the thread for 12 hours and buoldtimer/JD/Lemonade cancelled 8 D1 programs, complete with multiple National Championships. Talk about Cancel Culture!! *smilie*

With a $42 billion dollar endowment at Harvard I am not sure why the hell $30M a year for sports would matter but it does apparently....



This was published in the Harvard Crimson in April of 2020:

In the face of a financial crisis, Harvard Athletics has deferred all capital projects and is considering other cost-cutting moves, Director of Athletics Robert L. Scalise said in an interview last week.

The department has halted refurbishing some of its facilities following the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’s announcement that it would postpone all capital projects indefinitely. FAS — the division of the University that oversees the College and thus Harvard Athletics — has already incurred nearly $30 million in unforeseen expenses and lost revenue as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Those losses place FAS in a deficit for FY 2020.

Projects at the top of the department’s agenda had included improvements to the wrestling team’s facilities housed in the Malkin Athletic Center, the Weld and Newell boathouses used by Harvard’s men and women’s crew teams, and the sailing center, which sank into the Charles River more than two years ago.

“It’s unrealistic to think that we’re going to be able to operate the way we did in the past,” Scalise said.

“People will be creative, and we’ll try to minimize the negative impact but there will be some things that have to change, just to be realistic and to be responsible,” he added.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, Harvard Athletics operated a budget of nearly $30 million, according to the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis compiled by the United States Department of Education.

Harvard boasts the most varsity athletics programs — 42 — out of the nearly 350 colleges and universities that comprise the National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I. Nearly 1,200 Harvard College students play on a varsity team, according to a Harvard Athletics website.

Though the extent of the cuts remains unclear, Scalise said the department will draw on its experience from the previous recession, when it trimmed its budget by 15 percent.

During the previous financial crisis, Scalise explained, the department tried to limit its cuts to areas that would not affect student-athletes. Faced with a similar situation roughly ten years later, Scalise said he is not sure the department can afford to shield its varsity programs entirely.

 

[buoldtimer]

I leave the thread for 12 hours and buoldtimer/JD/Lemonade cancelled 8 D1 programs, complete with multiple National Championships. Talk about Cancel Culture!! *smilie*

Please note the use of "if" in my question.

Taking the matter to an extreme, do you think a large segment of the Ivy student population would just shrug, if varsity athletic programs were eliminated?

For that matter, what percentage of the BU student population would care if BU dropped hockey? I look around at BU games, and I'd say that the average age of attendees skews a little to the high side.

 

[ericredaxe]

Please note the use of "if" in my question.

Taking the matter to an extreme, do you think a large segment of the Ivy student population would just shrug, if varsity athletic programs were eliminated?

For that matter, what percentage of the BU student population would care if BU dropped hockey? I look around at BU games, and I'd say that the average age of attendees skews a little to the high side.

Probably not a huge percentage would really care all that much to be honest. How many undergrad students are at BU? 20,000? How many kids are typically in the student section for any given game? 600? That isn't a very great attendance percentage.

 

[ericredaxe]

With a $42 billion dollar endowment at Harvard I am not sure why the hell $30M a year for sports would matter but it does apparently....



This was published in the Harvard Crimson in April of 2020:

In the face of a financial crisis, Harvard Athletics has deferred all capital projects and is considering other cost-cutting moves, Director of Athletics Robert L. Scalise said in an interview last week.

The department has halted refurbishing some of its facilities following the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’s announcement that it would postpone all capital projects indefinitely. FAS — the division of the University that oversees the College and thus Harvard Athletics — has already incurred nearly $30 million in unforeseen expenses and lost revenue as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Those losses place FAS in a deficit for FY 2020.

Projects at the top of the department’s agenda had included improvements to the wrestling team’s facilities housed in the Malkin Athletic Center, the Weld and Newell boathouses used by Harvard’s men and women’s crew teams, and the sailing center, which sank into the Charles River more than two years ago.

“It’s unrealistic to think that we’re going to be able to operate the way we did in the past,” Scalise said.

“People will be creative, and we’ll try to minimize the negative impact but there will be some things that have to change, just to be realistic and to be responsible,” he added.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, Harvard Athletics operated a budget of nearly $30 million, according to the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis compiled by the United States Department of Education.

Harvard boasts the most varsity athletics programs — 42 — out of the nearly 350 colleges and universities that comprise the National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I. Nearly 1,200 Harvard College students play on a varsity team, according to a Harvard Athletics website.

Though the extent of the cuts remains unclear, Scalise said the department will draw on its experience from the previous recession, when it trimmed its budget by 15 percent.

During the previous financial crisis, Scalise explained, the department tried to limit its cuts to areas that would not affect student-athletes. Faced with a similar situation roughly ten years later, Scalise said he is not sure the department can afford to shield its varsity programs entirely.

As a similar example, Stanford has one of the biggest endowments in the country and just dropped a half a dozen or so sports last year due to financial concerns.

 

[Scarlet]

Given that we are currently still in season, I'd like to table the discussion on schools dropping hockey programs and focus on why we have not received any explanation or update on why BU, UML and/or Hockey East were not able (or willing) to schedule a second game this weekend. UML is not playing another game. Both schools could use the extra game played. Remember back in January when a weekend series was cancelled and at the last minute we got a Sunday afternoon game? Should we expect something like that to happen?

 

[ericredaxe]

Given that we are currently still in season, I'd like to table the discussion on schools dropping hockey programs and focus on why we have not received any explanation or update on why BU, UML and/or Hockey East were not able (or willing) to schedule a second game this weekend. UML is not playing another game. Both schools could use the extra game played. Remember back in January when a weekend series was cancelled and at the last minute we got a Sunday afternoon game? Should we expect something like that to happen?

That does seem odd. A second game vs UML seems to be an obvious choice. Maybe one will still be announced? I doubt there are any conflicts with use of the arenas?

 

[Lemonade]

Please note the use of "if" in my question.

Taking the matter to an extreme, do you think a large segment of the Ivy student population would just shrug, if varsity athletic programs were eliminated?

For that matter, what percentage of the BU student population would care if BU dropped hockey? I look around at BU games, and I'd say that the average age of attendees skews a little to the high side.

The MASSIVE factor is some sports are profitable for colleges. BU Hockey is a profit maker for the school. There are no IVY league sports that make money for their programs. NONE. Essentially BU makes a few million profit from BU Hockey and Harvard loses a few million every season.

 

[Harry Cleverly]

Apropos of nothing, but if the Ivies and RPI and Union cancel hockey next season, could that be the end of hockey at those institutions?

No.
The Ivies can all afford it, and their alumni love tradition. Imagine no hockey at Cornell? Not going to happen.
RPI and Union are another matter, since it is a D1 sport at an otherwise D3 school. Both would be more likely to drop down to D3 than eliminate hockey, but I don't see them doing that, either.

 

[Harry Cleverly]

Given that we are currently still in season, I'd like to table the discussion on schools dropping hockey programs ...

We can chew gum and skate at the same time.

 

[brassbonanza]

Given that we are currently still in season, I'd like to table the discussion on schools dropping hockey programs and focus on why we have not received any explanation or update on why BU, UML and/or Hockey East were not able (or willing) to schedule a second game this weekend. UML is not playing another game. Both schools could use the extra game played. Remember back in January when a weekend series was cancelled and at the last minute we got a Sunday afternoon game? Should we expect something like that to happen?

Sunday games on this particular weekend are difficult since the first round of the HET is Wednesday. So if UML played game 2 Sunday and then faced a team on Wednesday who played one game on Friday the prior weekend, that puts UML at a significant disadvantage. Currently, every HE team is playing one game this weekend. I'd love to see us play two, but it would've had to be in the time slot we had today. Given the UNH game was cancelled 24 hours ago, likely not enough time to ask UML to prepare and suit up for a game 24 hours later.

 

[Bomber]

Merrimack's season is done.

I feel like we're walking on serious egg shells here. I'm going to try and enjoy each game BU plays, because it might be their last.

 

[Scarlet]

Sooooo, since BU played them this past weekend were they all exposed?? Assuming BU is continuously being tested this week.

 

[J.D.]

They've gotten this far, there will be a tournament. I guess the question would be what will BU do if they have a COVID blip leading up to it. I don't know what rules they have been following to go on pause but that would be interesting...

 

[mookie1995]

The MASSIVE factor is some sports are profitable for colleges. BU Hockey is a profit maker for the school. There are no IVY league sports that make money for their programs. NONE. Essentially BU makes a few million profit from BU Hockey and Harvard loses a few million every season.

Hmmmm. Mookie woulda guessed that there is a least a couple directed giving amounts that produce black figures for Harvard hockey....

 

[Bomber]

Sooooo, since BU played them this past weekend were they all exposed?? Assuming BU is continuously being tested this week.

I know it's indoors vs. outdoors, but the NFL had no cases they could document passed between teams.

 

[buoldtimer]

Jakob Forsbaka-Karlsson with a 0-4-4 line in 26 games played for Vaxjo in the Swedish league. The team has played about 45 games.

 

[defkit]

Jakob Forsbaka-Karlsson with a 0-4-4 line in 26 games played for Vaxjo in the Swedish league. The team has played about 45 games.

Such a shame. I'll never forgive Sweeney. EVERYONE knew he wasn't ready for the NHL, but Sweeney promised him a game to burn a year of his ELC. He was turning into such a good college player, played a huge role in the win over North Dakota in the NCAAs (the "review" game). And it has all gone to crap.

 

[defkit]

Sooooo, since BU played them this past weekend were they all exposed?? Assuming BU is continuously being tested this week.

I think I read it was a MC coach who tested positive. Obviously he could have passed it to his players and they could have passed it to BU players, but at least there is an additional degree of separation.