In a report presented Friday to the Board of Visitors, the Virginia 2020 Strategic Planning Task Force for the Department of Athletics recommended restructuring the University's 24 varsity sports into four tiers to combat an athletics program deficit that is projected to reach $47.4 million by 2010.
The task force also recommended the elimination of men's indoor track and field and the addition of women's golf in order to address the budget deficit and Title IX concerns regarding equality between men's and women's athletics.
If the changes are approved, women will make up 51 percent of the University's athletes, up from 47 percent. Women now make up 54 percent of the student body at the University. This moves the University's athletic department closer to full compliance with Title IX, which states that the proportion of each gender's athletic teams must reflect the proportion of each gender in the student body.
The Board passed a resolution sending the report to its finance committee and student affairs and athletics committee for further evaluation and will consider the report again at a later date.
"Athletics cannot continue to operate under status quo mode," Board member Gordon Rainey said during discussion at the meeting.
The report recommends classifying varsity sports into four tiers based on revenue and past success. Top-tier sports - football and men's and women's basketball - would provide full funding of athletic scholarships "to compete at the highest intercollegiate level."
Second-tier sports - men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, women's rowing, and men's and women's swimming - would provide full or substantial athletic scholarships and "operating budgets to compete for a national championship."
Third-tier sports - women's golf (if added), softball, women's tennis, women's cross country, women's indoor and outdoor track and field and volleyball - would provide limited athletic scholarships or need-based aid and would have minimal staff and operating budgets.
Participants in fourth-tier sports - baseball, wrestling, men's golf, men's tennis, men's cross country, men's indoor track and field (if not dropped) and men's outdoor track and field - would receive only need-based financial aid.
Current athletic scholarships still would be honored for all tiers. Fourth-tier sports would have a limited coaching staff and would travel only regionally.
"I know one of the parts of the fourth tier is that we can only travel within region," said first-year College student Walton Kingsberry, a member of the track and field and cross country teams.
"To qualify for nationals in cross country and track, you have to qualify through a regional meet, which is not in Virginia. Basically, it's taking us out of the national spotlight altogether. It's their way of killing the program off without pulling the rug out from under our feet," Kingsberry said.
The report expressed concern about the costs associated with building a new basketball arena, but did not make a recommendation either way, stating that any decision to build a new arena should be made with "considerable caution."
Carolyn Callahan, Education School professor and chair of the Strategic Planning Task Force for the Department of Athletics, said the costs of college athletics are increasing faster than revenues, but stressed that the University's athletics program is not in trouble. According to an NCAA report, 54 percent of Division 1-A schools reported budget deficits in 1999.
Virginia law prohibits public colleges and universities from funding intercollegiate athletics with either tuition dollars or state funds. All money used for athletic programs must be raised from student fees, ticket sales, media revenues, product sales, licensing agreements, user fees and private donations.
According to the report, student fees at the University are lower than all of the state's other public colleges and universities except for Virginia Tech. Student fees for the 2000-2001 academic year at the University were $1,114 per person, of which $238 was allocated to athletics.
The report recommended an increase in student fees by $50 per year until they equal the statewide average of $1,692 per person, with the increase going to the athletics budget.
The report said that the University must balance academics and athletics and maintain high academic standards for its student-athletes. University statistics show a steady increase in student-athlete grade-point averages since 1990.
NCAA statistics show that University athletes who entered in the 1993-94 school year graduated at a rate of 78 percent. This is above the Division 1-A average of 59 percent but below the University-wide four-year graduation rate of 81 percent.
The report stated that the task force is seeking increased academic performance from the University's student-athletes.
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