To pick up on Tim Newman's comments about why UIC would shut down its
hockey program...
College hockey fans need to understand that it is a VERY expensive
sport for a campus to maintain. The cost of a full-fledged D-I
program is astronomical: the combination of salaries, scholarships
(especially for private schools), equipment, operating costs,
travel, rink maintenance, and so on is second only to football.
Some schools can handle these costs fairly well: they may enjoy, as
Tim noted, corporate or alumni support; and/or generate revenue from
their ice rink; and/or generate decent revenue from ticket sales or
from revenues from other sports (I'd suspect that Michigan football
carries a big part of the athletic department's budget). Absent
that kind of $$$ support, hockey can be a rather large budgetary
black hole. Again, however, if the sport helps to put the
institution on the map (it is the "flagship" sport for that school,
as at Alaska-Fairbanks; or it enjoys significant popularity, as at
Vermont), it may well be considered worth the cost by the
institution.
But if all those factors are absent, then it shouldn't be a surprise
to see a college reconsider continuation of a hockey program. That
was certainly the case at Kent State, was almost the case at Ferris
State, and appears to be the case at UIC -- though I'd certainly
agree that UIC didn't handle the issue very well at all. With
budget problems increasing at colleges and universities all over the
U.S., hockey programs that are marginal or not strongly competitive
are more likely to come under scrutiny. I suspect UIC won't be the
last D-I hockey program to go under....
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Dr. Stephen E. Roth [log in to unmask]
Dean of Student Services
Canisius College (716) 888-2522
Buffalo, New York 14226 FAX (716) 888-3190
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