Last June, Winthrop Athletics announced the discontinuation of both the men’s and women’s tennis programs following a vote by the Board of Trustees. The decision to eliminate tennis was a result of financial impacts caused by COVID-19.
Fast-forward ten months and members of the Board of Trustees have discussed what sports could be seen next at Winthrop.
“We talked about the possible addition of sports in the future,” Tim Hopkins, chair of the committee on student life and athletics, told those present at the Board of Trustees meeting on April 9. “This is just a ‘for instance.’ This isn’t a ‘definitive,’ this is a ‘for instance.’”
“If we were to add any sports in the future, we discussed perhaps beach volleyball,” Hopkins said. “It’s a sport where we have facilities already in place here that we can offer such a sport, and the overhead costs associated with it are within reason that we can afford it.
“We talked about wrestling for women, which is a sport that’s really gained popularity across the country. We talked about swimming and diving. We have a nice swimming pool in the West Center even though there would be some other things that would need to be taken care of with the diving portion of that,” he added.
Hopkins made no mention of the loss (or any potential reinstatement) of tennis. Other sports he said his committee had discussed as potential programs Winthrop could add were triathlon for women and men as well as and acrobatics and tumbling.
Hopkins noted that Winthrop currently meets the minimum requirements to remain a Division-I athletic program, which include having a minimum of 14 NCAA sports (specific to schools that do not offer football), having at least six sports for men, fielding men’s and women’s basketball, and fielding at least one sport with each gender during the fall, spring, and winter.
What sparked the conversation about possibly adding sports at Winthrop was the criteria for compliance with Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at federally-funded educational institutions.
According to Hopkins, to be in compliance with Title IX, a school must exhibit three things: proportionality (meaning there is a proportionate share of opportunities for male and female students), full accommodation (meaning programs are available for all male and female athletes that wish to participate in sports), and engagement in continued program expansion (meaning the school seeks to add sports opportunities going forward).
While the Board of Trustees seems to be looking toward the future, Hopkins acknowledged that the athletic department is still feeling the financial impact of COVID-19 and could be for some time.
“It’s pretty different to run an athletic program when you can’t allow fans into the arena to watch the basketball games. That generates most of our revenue,” he said. “It’s important that we get back to normal as quickly and as soon as possible.”
While the athletic department may have made severely less revenue off ticket and concession sales over the last year, Hopkins also noted that there have been financial windfalls thanks to the success of the men’s basketball team.
For winning the Big South Conference Tournament last year, Winthrop pocketed $100,000. After winning the same tournament this year, Winthrop received an additional $100,000 plus an extra $75,000 from the Big South Conference for earning a 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Whether or not the funds are there, Hopkins made sure to reiterate that any discussions about adding sports at Winthrop at this time are hypothetical.
“We talked about some of the costs associated with [adding sports], but once again this is ‘for instance.’ Not really something we want to get into.”
Photo by Olivia Esselman
