According to media reports, the University of Connecticut is laying the groundwork to eliminate multiple sports next month. Like every university, it is facing a daunting balance sheet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the athletic department specifically has been hemorrhaging money for years, running a deficit in excess of $40 million last year. Athletic director David Benedict sent up a warning flare last week about cutting sports: “I think that’s going to be a decision that we have to make,” he told the Hartford Courant.
How bad could it get at UConn? Courant columnist Michael Anthony urged the Huskies to drop eight sports, going from 24 to the NCAA Division I FBS minimum of 16.