UTA stands firm on not cutting sports, but also maintains football will not be added
Texas-Arlington athletic director Jim Baker has been gifted an excuse to chop sports, but unlike so many of his counterparts all over the country he’s refraining.
On the other hand, he’s also not adding anything either, like football, anytime in the foreseeable future.
With 13 sponsored sports, UTA does not have many sports to drop but Baker has no desire, nor the need, to do it.
“We are not looking to drop anything, but what we are doing is looking at our budgets,” Baker said in a recent phone interview. “No merit pays. Pay freezes. Just being smart. Since we shut down we were semi-lucky in that none of our teams have traveled yet. We have not incurred a lot of costs.
“But we are not cutting any scholarship sports.”
With the exception of Power Five athletic departments, student-athletes who play in non-revenue sports, on nearly every other level of college athletics, are sweating if their sport will be dropped.
According to the Associated Press, 97 programs have been cut from college athletic departments, and they’ve cited COVID-19 as the main reason why. The number is expected to exceed 100.
Many athletic directors are using COVID-19 as the perfect reason to cut costs. Some are simply following orders from university presidents that are projecting major revenue shortfalls for the start of the fall semester. While others are doing it simply to eliminate sports that provide more pain and consternation than they are worth.
One little dirty secret of college athletics is the acquired disdain athletic directors can have towards some non-revenue sports. The AD can grow quite tired of the coach, the problems associated with a sport that generate zero money, or the athletes themselves.
Most of the programs that have been dropped are men’s sports, which makes it easier for college athletic departments to remain in good standing with Title IX guidelines.
For UTA, Baker is looking at trimming costs without the measures affecting the person. As a member of the Sun Belt Conference, UTA is not exactly flush with cash.
“We are looking at our big our travel is. We will try to play more regional games. We are cutting some things we are doing on the marketing side,” he said. “We are planning first and foremost to take care of our student-athletes.”
Baker is like a lot of his colleagues in the field who hope this traumatic event will force coaches and schools to adopt more regional friendly games.
What Baker can’t do is anything other than play prevent defense, and hope his cost-saving measures are enough to keep UTA’s athletic department intact.
What Baker can’t do is plan to add a thing, which includes potentially football.
Texas-Arlington dropped football in the fall of 1985. The school recently conducted a feasibility study about potentially bringing the sport back.
COVID-19 has not made UTA Maverick football obsolete, but it’s has effectively delayed it to a date on the calendar that does not exist.
“It’s down the road,” Baker said. “We got the report and we are looking at it. It’s just so far from what we are trying to do. Right now we are just trying to keep the doors open and take care of our staff.
“We will get to that when we get to it.”
One possibility that Baker did not dismiss was the idea of UTA potentially using Globe Life Park for Maverick events.
Now, this is a reach but Baker did not rule it out. As UTA has tried to expand its footprint outside of its campus, playing a game or two of anything at Globe Life Park or the new Globe Life Field has appeal.
Globe Life Park was retrofitted for football, when the XFL was still in its brief existence. The XFL’s Dallas Renegades played half of its inaugural season in Arlington, until the league closed its doors in early April.
These proposals are all well and good, and none of them are appropriate for the moment.
Baker’s priorities are to keep his sports, and staff, intact. While he may want to add football some day, his bigger priority is to simply make sure to keep what UTA has.
