Dozens of student-athletes were left stunned and dejected when Cal Poly San Luis Obispo suddenly canceled the men's and women's swimming and diving programs.
Citing financial concerns from the changing collegiate athletics landscape Cal Poly SLO's administration claims that the school's smaller sports programs were losing money as a result of the "name, image and likeness" payments to college players.
“This was a complete shock to us,” Alex Seybold, a third year student and co-captain of the swim team, told KNX News. “We figured out that this was going to happen less than 24 hours in advance, and the entire team was completely shocked.”
Co-captain Nick Elliott said the school never explained to them why the swimming and diving programs in particular were targeted. School officials told them if they wanted to save the programs, they would have to fundraise – to the tune of $25 million.
“That's obviously a very dramatically high number of which that no swim team in the country operates at, so hearing that was obviously jarring,” Elliott said.
The reforms to college athletics as a result of House v. NCAA allow student-athletes to be paid by schools and advertisers for the use of their name, image or likeness. It was supposed to be a game-changer for players who were left out of the immense profits from college sports.
But Elliott said smaller sports are the unintended victims of the new arrangement.
“Right now this Grant House case and part of the settlement, this $2 billion settlement that came out of it, requires colleges and athletic programs to pay a large sum of money, and as a result, it's the non-revenue sports that really get the worst end of the stick,” he said. “And it’s unfortunate because if this continues to not get the attention it deserves, then sports like tennis, golf, track and field, and swim are on the cusp.”
Seybold said he knew smaller sports were going to face financial pressures, but he wasn't expecting Cal Poly to simply wipe out the swim and diving teams.
“We didn't think it would happen to us this quickly at all,” he said. “We kind of think it was pretty short-sighted for the university, and hopefully other universities don't continue to do this because, you know, swimming is an Olympic sport. It's not revenue-generating, but we think it's a sport worth keeping.”
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Elliott said he’s heartened by the support they’ve received, and they’re determined to come up with the millions they need to keep the swim and diving teams afloat.
“We've seen dozens of Olympians repost our cause and promote it, along with just thousands and thousands of other people signing petitions and donating,” he said. “It’s because it’s a problem larger than just Cal Poly. It’s this problem that, you know, is the death of non-revenue sports.”
In a statement, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo President Jeffrey Armstrong said the school "remain[s] committed to the student-athlete model and excelling both in the classroom and in athletic competitions. However, that requires us to make difficult decisions ... to maintain and sustain a viable athletics program. At this time, no other Cal Poly sports programs are at risk of being discontinued."
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