In general, athletics has been a self-sustaining entity on our campus, and we are striving to preserve that model in a time when budgetary support for our academic mission is already under significant stress.
Out of respect for the affected staff members, we will not be releasing a list of the layoffs publicly.We will honor all existing athletic scholarship commitments to the affected student-athletes throughout their undergraduate experiences at Stanford, and we hope they choose to remain on The Farm and earn their Stanford degrees. Stanford students achieve at the highest levels of world-class academics and championship athletics. The decision to discontinue these 11 sports will not disparately impact any particular demographic.Approximately 240 student-athletes and 22 coaches participate in these 11 sports. Stanford Athletics will still need to deploy additional short-term cost-saving measures to combat the heightened revenue pressures brought on by COVID-19.
After considering the effects of this model, we determined that operating our varsity athletics programs in this manner would be antithetical to Stanford’s values and our determination to be excellent in all that we do.While painful, the discontinuation of these 11 sports at the varsity level and the associated reductions in our support staff will create a path for Stanford Athletics to return to fiscal stability while maintaining gender equity and competitiveness.We understand that the timing of this announcement, in early summer and against a backdrop of uncertainty and change across our country, is certainly far from ideal, as is the method by which we had to deliver the news to our student-athletes and coaches today, via Zoom. Stanford University announced Wednesday the reduction of varsity athletics programs and staffing.
Of the 706 tests administered to date, 11 student-athletes have tested positive. Even implementing all of these measures, however, we will need to access our limited reserve funds to bridge us through the current economic downturn and the acute near-term impacts the pandemic will have on our revenue sources.The primary alternative to this decision would have been a broad and deep reduction in support for all 36 of our varsity sports, including the elimination of scholarships and the erosion of our efforts to attract and retain the high-caliber coaches and staff needed to provide an unparalleled scholar-athletics experience. We are fortunate to have a tremendous roster of coaches across the board, regardless of their level of compensation. As a matter of practice, Stanford will not reveal details of those arrangements. Given the timing, we determined that offering these 11 programs the opportunity for one final season of varsity competition in 2020-21 was the right thing to do.The decision to discontinue these 11 varsity sports programs comes down primarily to finances and competitive excellence.
After careful analysis, we concluded there was no realistic path to ensuring that they have all of the resources needed to compete at the highest level without hindering our ability to support our other 25 varsity sports.The history of the sport at Stanford and the prospects for future success of the sport at Stanford were two of the many factors that were considered.
However, we felt it was imperative to confront the financial challenge before it worsened, to undertake a deliberate and collaborative decision-making process with our Board of Trustees and campus leadership, and to exhaust all viable alternatives before making profound changes in our programs, especially during this difficult time. Several of them, including our football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball head coaches, took voluntary salary reductions beginning in May.We will always strive to be prudent and frugal when it comes to our resources and have much to offer coaches beyond compensation.