Beginning of the end for college sports??? The Stanford news is huge. If state monies are not included in the proposed next round of federal stimulus, then chop, chop, chop. Fringe sports (non-revenue generating) will be cut all over the place. I agree with VA, OOC hoops will be cut (possibly in their entirety), and maybe conference games will be played in front of empty arenas. Reduced revenue stream for basketball, and expect some schools to drop basketball altogether moving forward. Really sucks. Starting to appreciate European soccer so much more though.
Basketball is a required sport for D1 (and I'm pretty sure NCAA wide at all levels), teams must have a men's and women's basketball team. That cannot ever be cut.
I could see schools dropping down to the bare minimum of sports they need to have in order to sustain themselves as a D1 program (16 I believe for FBS schools) with the emphasis being put on sports that make money. I could see a world where schools have football, basketball, and then
maybe hockey, baseball, or LAX depending on region (SBU is good at LAX so we keep that one, hockey is a money maker for the Big Ten schools so they keep that, Baseball is big for the SEC they keep that, etc.) with everything else being solo sports they need to bring themselves up to NCAA minimums (track, golf, etc) and the associated women's sports for Title IX compliance. All other sports get dropped. So say goodbye to soccer, baseball, tennis, a whole bunch of sports will get cut.
As far as SBU goes, I'm not exactly sure where/if we'll need to cut yet, but IMO, Soccer will be the first to go. Swimming and Diving, then Cross Country would be next, and if things got
really bad, Baseball. Football is safe, basketball is essential, and LI is too good of an area for LAX to lose that.