What Happened to CU’s DI Baseball Team?
The University of Colorado Boulder is the only school in the Pac-12 conference without a Division I baseball team. When CU was a member of the Big 12, it was one of two schools in the conference without a DI baseball team. Considering the popularity of baseball in America in tandem with the size of CU’s athletic department, it is a little odd that Colorado’s flagship university is missing a quintessential American sport. In fact, the University of Northern Colorado has a DI team, while CU doesn’t. This is pretty perplexing when considering how much smaller UNC’s athletic department is compared to CU.
There is definitely interest in college baseball. In fact, over 2 million viewers took in the College World Series last year. So why does CU seem to have no interest in fielding a team?
Well, the answer ultimately comes down to the effects of Title IX. Title IX is legislation included in the Education Amendments of 1972 that requires schools that receive federal funding to provide women with equal opportunity to participate in sports. This landmark legislation encourages women to pursue their athletic ambitions.
The downside is that some schools that receive federal funds, like CU, had to cut programs to make room for the new women’s programs. Men’s baseball, along with men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s wrestling, and women’s diving comprised several sports that were discontinued on June 11, 1980; the 1979–80 season was the last year of competition for each. In the 1980’s, schools needed 14 sports (men or women) to qualify for DI status, and the cuts reduced CU’s total to 14 sports(eight men’s, six women’s). This move was based on what would be the most savvy financial decision, as non-revenue sports survived on tight budgets while CU recovered from an approximately $1 million debt in athletics at the time. Unfortunately, sports like wrestling and the two gymnastics teams were nationally ranked when they were disbanded!
The tradeoff is that Title IX and the growth of women’s athletics led CU to incorporate three women’s sports: volleyball (1986), golf (1994) and soccer (1996), while financial difficulties resulted in CU dropping men’s tennis (2006) bringing the university’s count to 16 (skiing now counts as one men’s and one women’s). If CU ever wanted to restart these programs, or start any new ones, it comes down to budget. So perhaps once CU is in a financial position where the sports they have are fully funded, they could add back men’s baseball. It should be noted that with Title IX, CU would have to add sports in twos, one men’s and one women’s, so baseball could only return with an equivalent women’s sport.
I, for one, would really enjoy seeing CU baseball return to DI. Perhaps adding baseball and a sport such as softball would be a path for this to happen. Until then, I guess we’ll just have to be content with watching the Rockies.
