Re: Niagara drops women's hockey!!
Well sure, it's about the money, but it's also about the benefit side of the equation too.
Yes, women's hockey is one of the most expensive sports. It's not just the travel costs, it's all equipment, etc. I forget where the NCAA has disclosed this info but you can see spending by sport. It's not cheap.
So if you're going to invest in a sport, you need some benefits to justify that kind of expense. (and Title IX isn't going to help much since there are cheaper ways of achieving compliance) You need the program to have some chance of bringing glory to the school. Can you blame Niagara for wanting to get out? They weren't able to match Mercyhurst's success, and this team has never had any chance of making NCAAs for the last decade, and fewer schools have a real chance of winning an NCAA championship. Sure, the CHA will finally get up to six teams in the future, but who can be confident about the long-term future of the league? Might Penn State someday jump for a Big 10 Hockey Conference? Who knows.
It's clear to me that the NCAA was really misguided in not supporting the CHA. The women's hockey committee within the NCAA certainly wanted to give the CHA an autobid waiver, but the larger body refused. It really stifled the growth of the sport. Imagine if the CHA had a waiver early on, and Findlay had never dropped the sport, and it was viable for OSU to join the CHA (note:not blaming OSU for backing out). Maybe then these schools could've had something more prestigious than a CHA championship to aim for, and kept investing the sport. It's a shame, and it was really awful for the NCAA not to support the sport by granting an autobid waiver.
Well sure, it's about the money, but it's also about the benefit side of the equation too.
Yes, women's hockey is one of the most expensive sports. It's not just the travel costs, it's all equipment, etc. I forget where the NCAA has disclosed this info but you can see spending by sport. It's not cheap.
So if you're going to invest in a sport, you need some benefits to justify that kind of expense. (and Title IX isn't going to help much since there are cheaper ways of achieving compliance) You need the program to have some chance of bringing glory to the school. Can you blame Niagara for wanting to get out? They weren't able to match Mercyhurst's success, and this team has never had any chance of making NCAAs for the last decade, and fewer schools have a real chance of winning an NCAA championship. Sure, the CHA will finally get up to six teams in the future, but who can be confident about the long-term future of the league? Might Penn State someday jump for a Big 10 Hockey Conference? Who knows.
It's clear to me that the NCAA was really misguided in not supporting the CHA. The women's hockey committee within the NCAA certainly wanted to give the CHA an autobid waiver, but the larger body refused. It really stifled the growth of the sport. Imagine if the CHA had a waiver early on, and Findlay had never dropped the sport, and it was viable for OSU to join the CHA (note:not blaming OSU for backing out). Maybe then these schools could've had something more prestigious than a CHA championship to aim for, and kept investing the sport. It's a shame, and it was really awful for the NCAA not to support the sport by granting an autobid waiver.
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