Arizona State, perhaps more than any Power 5 school, has been a leader in adding sports in recent years including beach volleyball, hockey, lacrosse, triathlon and men's tennis. University president Michael Crow and athletic director Ray Anderson are major advocates for a broad-based athletic department that values Olympic and women's sports.
Now, due to the pandemic, commissioners from the so-called Group of 5 conferences are seeking a four-year waiver on the NCAA requirement that Division I schools must sponsor at least 16 sports. That brought a save-college-sports response from the Intercollegiate Coach Association Coalition, representing 18 mostly Olympic sports, urging the NCAA not to open the door to widespread elimination of non-revenue sports.