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Not just in Division I, but also in the lower divisions.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/ ... s-21299223

Things are even more dire at Temple. The football program, which moved from the Mid-American Conference back to the Big East (the remnants of which are now called the American Athletic Conference), averaged just 22,473 fans this year at cavernous Lincoln Financial Field, an NFL stadium that houses the Philadelphia Eagles. And with the AAC no longer guaranteed a spot in one of college football's marquee bowls next season (and the $17 million payout that comes with it) lean times could get even leaner.

A major factor is the increased cost of travel. The AAC now spreads from Connecticut to Texas. It's not just the football team making those trips. Most of the 15 other sports that will stick around need to play in Houston, Memphis and Florida too.

Yep....realignment has been a smashing success....

EWU is supposedly adding women's softball and Men's golf in the next couple years.

It is kind of funny to see some of these schools struggle with travel expenses that Big Sky Conf schools have dealt with for YEARS.

I love how they portray it as the football beat gnawing athletics down to a bare-bones minimum. Temple has women's field hockey, men's and women's gymnastics, women's fencing, and women's lacrosse. A lot of those are luxury sports to say the least.

That kinda depends on the conference, Pwns. Or, more specifically, what the conference deems a "core sport." For most conferences, that's football (if the conference sponsors it), M/W hoops, and perhaps WVB, plus a few others. For the Big West, that might be baseball and softball. Back East, the other "core sports" could include lacrosse and/or field hockey. I'll agree that gymnastics and fencing COULD be considered "luxury sports," though gymnastics has been a bread-and-butter sport for Sac for a LONG time, doing VERY well on a VERY limited budget. Hearkening back to kalm's post, the Big Sky had to do SOMETHING with softball after the WCC pulled their schools out of the WCSC, so EWU joining them makes a LOT of sense. I'm not sure about men's golf, but that MIGHT be a Title IX move to counterbalance the addition of softball, though most don't care about adding men's sports to the equation. Many of these niche sports can operate very well on limited budgets, particularly if they do fundraising throughout the year, but that, of course, is NOT guaranteed. It works out better when niche sports share existing facilities (like gymnastics taking place in a building that already houses hoops and volleyball). Then there are sports like beach volleyball and cross country that are extensions of an already existing program that typically use the same coaches and the same players, and are merely an excuse to get walk-ons under scholarship on the cheap.

Keep these sports in mind before dropping them ALL in the same hamper. The LAST thing we want to see is a school devoid of ALL sports save for the "money sports."