Baseball and Men’s golf cut at North Dakota – springtime program cuts continue

Unfortunately, spring is the season for schools to cut programs, and baseball and men’s golf at the University of North Dakota have joined the sad parade of terminated teams in 2016. They join six other varsity sports programs recently cut at St. Cloud State University and Princeton University’s sprint football team.

Valley News Live reports that, “The decision ….was reached based upon forecasted state revenue shortfalls, conference core sport sponsorship requirements, and Title IX compliance. “

According to the report, both sports have a long history at UND, “baseball played its first game in 1889 [at UND],” and “Men’s golf became a varsity sport at UND in 1929.”

The U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis shows that after eliminating baseball and men’s golf, UND will sponsor 6 varsity teams for men and 9 teams for women (counting track as one sport).

Title IX compliance almost always results in male teams bearing the greater burden of sacrifice when teams are eliminated.

These recent cuts will only add to the significant disparity between male and female team sponsorship in the NCAA. According to NCAA.org, there are currently over 1,300 more female teams (10,336) than male teams (8,990) sponsored by NCAA member schools.