Fairness in Sports Foundation

ASU Eliminates Three Men's Varsity Teams

Arizona State University eliminated 3 men’s athletic teams on May 13 — wrestling, swimming and tennis.  These are the first cuts since 1993 when ASU dropped men’s gymnastics, archery and badminton.  As many as 70 male athletes lost their opportunity to play collegiate sports and 6 full-time coaching positions were eliminated.

Men’s varsity sports make up 40% of ASU’s athletic programs. Those still being funded are:

• Baseball, basketball, cross country, diving, football, golf, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field

Varsity women’s teams make up 60% of ASU’s athletic programs. Those still being funded are:

• basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, volleyball, and water polo 

ASU added women’s soccer in 1996 and women’s water polo in 2002 to comply with Title IX.  But ASU couldn’t afford to sponsor 22 athletic teams and cut the men’s programs to keep pace with the escalating size and costs of the department.  To bring the teams back, ASU said to it would cost $5 million to fully endow men’s tennis, $5 million for men’s swimming and $8 million for men’s wrestling.

ASU has a rich history of accomplishments in these eliminated sports.  In 1988 ASU won the NCAA National Championship and Zeke Jones (Olympics ’92) and Townsend Saunders (Olympics ’92 and ’96) won silver medals for the USA.