Facing budget challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Minnesota Board of Regents voted Friday morning to eliminate men's gymnastics, tennis, and indoor track and field.
The decision saved the men's outdoor track and field team, which was originally on the chopping block before Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle offered a new proposal on Friday.
The regents received the new plan Friday morning after the original plan proposed cutting the three sports and outdoor track and field.
The resolution passed with a 7-5 vote. Those three programs will be dropped at the end of the current school year.
Gopher sports was facing a $75 million revenue loss but with football coming back, that number appears to be up in the air.
There were some regents that wanted to delay action on Friday's new proposal but that was voted down, prompting the final vote. Coyle told the regents and small crowd of student athletes in attendance that the proposal will save around $1.6 million, which drew loud groans from those that were gathered.
In September, Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle announced the three sports would be eliminated pending the October vote by the Board of Regents.
Coyle along with University of Minnesota president Joan Gabel wrote in September, "The COVID-19 pandemic and the Big Ten’s decision to postpone fall 2020-21 sports has greatly increased the financial concerns. Our athletic department is now facing a projected loss of revenue of approximately $75 million just this fiscal year. This is a significant deficit and one that will have an impact for years to come."
The B1G 10 announced a few days later that the football season would return the weekend of October 24. However, with no fans in attendance and the uncertainty of the season because of COVID-19 cases, the amount of money brought in solely by football remains up in the air.