Boise State Swimming & Diving, Baseball Raise Half-a-Million Dollars in Pledges

The Boise State swimming & diving and baseball programs, both of which received news in last week that they were being phased out by the school, have teamed up to amass half-a-million dollars in pledges so far.

In addition, the baseball program has launched a Gofundme account that has raised over $67,000 in actual donations as of posting time.

The programs’ goal is to raise $2 million, which they hope will be “more than enough” to cover the cost of saving the programs.

Boise State says that the elimination of these two sports to help cover an anticipated $3 million budget deficit caused by the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Idaho Statesman, the school’s athletics director Curt Apsey has said that fundraising is not an option, because the move was as much about the long term health of the department as the short term budget deficit.

Over the last 3 years, expenses for the swimming & diving program have averaged $907,736, according to the Statesman.

The baseball team, which was brought back this spring after having been dropped as a varsity sport in 1980. At the time, the school dropped wrestling to pursue baseball.

That leaves both programs facing a problem of a lack of alumni to lean on for fundraising. The swimming & diving program was launched for the 2006-2007 season, meaning that the program’s oldest alumni are in their mid-30s. The modern iteration of the baseball program has, essentially, no alumni. There is another older group in their late 50s and early 60s who have been disconnected from the program for almost 4 decades.

The fates of the two programs are likely aligned because of Title IX regulations.

This is one of a number of fundraising efforts going on around the country to save swimming & diving programs. East Carolina has already collected over $715,000 in pledges to save its team that was also cut at the end of last season.

There are a few examples of fundraising efforts saving programs in prior years, including Dartmouth in 2002 (the program is on the chopping block again), though there are far more examples where fundraising efforts have been unable to sway decision makers.

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Coach
3 years ago

This is a large amount of money raised in such a short period of time. Impressive but my question is, why did they wait so long to get so much in donations? To me, if I am running a program that does not make money, then I need to be out there making sure my program is getting additional funding so that my program is as secure as it can be.

Juan
Reply to  Coach
3 years ago

I think if the coach, team and alumni knew the program was being considered for elimination they would have initiated fundraising and worked to establish a sustainable alternative revenue stream. Given that they program was only established in 2006 most alumni are just getting to the point in their careers where they can begin helping financially. I find it hard to believe that the leadership of the university is blind to the fact that athletics bring pride to a University, boasts its overall standing and in term alumni and community support. To not even consider alternatives that could set the program up for long term success shows a lack of understanding and absence of vision. Without a diverse academic athletic… Read more »

Texas A&M Swim Fan
3 years ago

Hate to say/admit this but according to this article & per the AD for Boise State, it won’t matter how much is raised and/or donated to keep these programs. They have been eliminated no matter (& that’s a rotten shame but ya gotta believe what he’s saying). Wishing these athletes luck in finding another school particularly since this is definitely not a pristine time to be transferring!!

TXSwim
3 years ago

Good Luck to all trying to regain this Program, and others fighting to save their programs also. What I absolutely do not get is how a college like Dartmouth with a $5.7 BILLION dollar endowment than generated $427 Million in investment returns last year decides it can no longer afford certain sports? Seriously?!? I’m guessing the Swim team (who I don’t believe offers scholarships) at most has a budget of 1 million.

TXSwim
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

Ok, so they now chase dozens of tuition paying students athletes away?

TXSwim
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

Good point, good discussion! Thanks

PARTICIPANT RIBBON
Reply to  Braden Keith
3 years ago

I guess the question I would have is why does it cost $167,000 per student? Higher education is outrageously expensive in the US which often leads to students coming out of college with a mountain of student loan debt. Colleges need to learn how to run a little leaner for everyone’s sake.

DLswim
Reply to  PARTICIPANT RIBBON
3 years ago

That’s a good question… An explanation that you may or may not find satisfying may be found here: https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2018/10/budget-presentation-explores-college-finances . There are certain fixed costs, like building maintenance (including those related to athletics) and building construction that are really high, according to the article.

Paul Windrath
Reply to  TXSwim
3 years ago

TXSWIM, The cost of the Dartmouth S/D program is not that high – probably 600-$750K (my guestimate). The IVY League does not offer athletic scholarships. Fundraising and endowments cover almost $300K of that. The issue that Dartmouth is facing is more than a budget number. By their own admission, the Athletic admissions is not diverse enough, so they are cutting athletic admission slots to allow Admissions to increase their diversity performance. Did not seem to matter that the S/D team was very welcoming of diversity – color and gender orientation. They opted to cut 5 sports entirely instead of a 10% cut across the board in Athletic admission slots.

Much of the revenue from that endowment (not huge when compared… Read more »

TXSwim
Reply to  Paul Windrath
3 years ago

Thanks for the details Paul. That’s a tough pill to swallow for all those swimmers, families, and the swimming community as a whole. I hope something can be done.

Gurrra
3 years ago

Bless their hearts. I really hope something can be worked out to save all the programs affected.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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