Iowa discontinues four sports after Big Ten postpones football, fall competitions

Less than two weeks after the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced the postponement of football and other fall sports due to the coronavirus pandemic, Big Ten member Iowa announced it is cutting four sports programs after the 2020-21 seasons. 

Iowa president Bruce Harreld and athletic director Gary Barta addressed the matter in an open letter: 

"With the Big Ten Conference’s postponement of fall competition on Aug. 11, University of Iowa Athletics now projects lost revenue of approximately $100 million and an overall deficit between $60 [million]-75 million this fiscal year. A loss of this magnitude will take years to overcome. We have a plan to recover, but the journey will be challenging.

"In that context, we are writing today with some extremely difficult news. In consultation with the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, we have made the decision to discontinue four of our varsity sports programs at the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year: men’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s tennis. Each of these teams will have the opportunity to compete in their upcoming 2020-21 seasons, should the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 permit, before they are discontinued at the varsity level."

Harreld and Barta added that existing scholarships for student-athletes and coaching contracts for those directly affected by the cuts will be honored. Iowa will assist all student-athletes who wish to transfer to different institutions. 

Stanford University made headlines in July when it cut 11 varsity programs even though the school reported an endowment of roughly $28 billion last fall.