As California and many others statehouses face a difficult economic opponent, budget cuts are now hitting state college and university athletic programs right in the gut. The University of California at Irvine is the first to ax sports, taking away swimming, diving, rowing and sailing. While these sports are not big name and don’t draw TV coverage or the big crowds, they are an essential part of student life and the final sports chapter for many athletes preparing for the business world. But now that story has unhappy ending for some athletes at the UC college in Orange County California and they soon may not be alone.

My producer Nicole Busch and I called every public college and university in California, since it is the state in the most dire circumstances financially. We found only Irvine has cut programs so far, but others have made some difficult changes. Staffs have been cut, scholarships eliminated, travel much less and more tedious for athletes. Programs and media guides no longer printed, but now posted only online. Equipment and uniforms are being cut back and overall, not one college said the cuts were easy to deal with.
At Long Beach State, home to the Pyramid, University President F. King Alexander says college sports take an unfair hardship right now as compared with other parts of the university. Athletic departments not only get cut back and coaches furloughed, but student fee and tuition increases also need to addresses. Sports get’s hit both ways.

Now you might believe that calling someone a college athlete is an oxymoron, or that college athletes have it easy and why shouldn’t they be cut back. While big time basketball and football programs may be a tad deserving of your criticism, please remember that there are thousands of athletes, at hundreds of schools, playing all sorts of sports that have little fan base, but are still a powerful vein to a healthy student body, life and campus. It is these sports, in some cases already hurting from NCAA rules and regulations, that are now facing yet another obstacle. Will they survive? University presidents and AD’s are already worried that if the budget crisis continues, cutting back will eventually mean cutting out….just like UCI has already done.