So much for being the "flagship" university
“This has been a very difficult decision made only with extensive deliberation,” said UB President Satish K. Tripathi. “The unfortunate reality is that we no longer have the resources to support 20 competitive Division I athletic teams. I know that this is a difficult day for our student-athletes, our coaches, and the entire athletics program and university. We will work very hard to provide our student-athletes and coaches who are impacted by this decision with the support they need.”
http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2017/04/UB-sports-reduction.htmlWith these cuts they're now at the FBS minimum of 16 sports. The cut sports are
men's soccer, men's baseball, men's swimming and diving, and women's rowing. The loss of baseball is a significant one. Though it's not a revenue producer, I'd imagine it gets much better fan support than most other men's non-revenue sports. Coming off of our CWS appearance a few years back with them dropping, it'll be much easier for us to recruit now. Like when Hofstra's football program folded, I'd imagine we can pretty much take who we want.
Obviously that MAC TV money with the midweek games wasn't enough to cover their expenses. Their fan support was never great to begin with anyhow. I don't want to gloat and act like we're selling out every game and/or have alumni donations coming in out the @$$, but them cutting sports while we're opening our new swimming pool and expanding the football stadium clearly show the directions both athletic departments are trending. I wonder how much more if any state money they're getting for sports compared to us. On the surface this may look bad since they're cutting and we're part of the same system, but maybe not.
I'd never want to say an athlete losing their scholarship is a "positive" development, but this could position us better moving forward.