The announcement this week of the elimination of teams at Vermont and Northern Iowa continues a trend of NCAA member institutions deciding to drop sports because of the economic downturn. In the last three months, Norwich, Lawrence, Western Washington, Johns Hopkins and Delaware also have cut teams and many other institutions – including Stanford and Hawaii – have indicated financial realities might force them to do the same.

At the same time, though, other schools such as Valparaiso and Saint Norbert’s this week, and Niagara, North Georgia, and Davis and Elkins earlier – are adding to their sport-sponsorship levels. Additionally, Division III members will face a 12-sport minimum sponsorship requirement in 2010 and the division as a whole is growing in members, and both facts are likely to push sport sponsorship higher despite the number of schools eliminating teams.

Indeed, the participation rates for 2007-08 indicate growth in both men’s and women’s sports, though these latest changes will not be reflected until the 2008-09 report is released in early 2010. The 2007-08 report indicates that in the last year, men’s and women’s rifle, wrestling and women’s fencing saw the most cuts, while men’s and women’s lacrosse,  and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field saw the most gains.

The economy is likely to continue to force schools to make tough financial decisions institution-wide.  In Northern Iowa’s announcement eliminating its baseball team Monday, President Ben Allen put into words the situation faced by many institutions across the country.

“During these challenging budget times, every area of campus will be affected,” Allen said. “This decision with respect to baseball is a reflection of the difficult decisions that we will be facing across the entire university.”