Situation:

A university offering 20 sports chose to eliminate several offerings due to its desire to offer a better student-athlete experience with its limited resources as well as stay ahead of the massive changes being made across the NCAA and the college athletics amateur model. Legal headwinds as well as several new paradigms–cost of attendance, NIL, unionization, how scholarships are regulated, etc.–are significantly raising costs for athletic departments at schools of all sizes.

Knowing the intense backlash that multiple schools have faced over the past several years when announcing cuts to athletics offerings, with many high-profile institutions forced to reverse decisions, BMCG was contacted by the administration to help the school navigate this announcement.

Actions / Recommendations:

  • We conducted fact-finding interviews and reviewed documents to develop a risk assessment which led to some modifications to strategy and reduced risk inherent with the decision.
  • BMCG developed a stakeholder-centric communications strategy for the announcement and due to the sensitivity of the announcement were responsible for developing the complete suite of communications products (community letters, website content, FAQs, talking points, roll-out plan etc.) that were required.
  • BMCG provided on-site support in the days surrounding the announcement, including media and contentious meeting preparation for key leaders (president, athletic director, and some select staff), and  provided real-time advice and media relations support during and after the announcement.

Results:

The announcement was made with a focus on stakeholders, providing the information to those directly impacted first. Using the suite of products and prep provided, athletics leadership was able to effectively announce the decision during very emotionally charged meetings. Stakeholders, though most strongly disagreed with the decision, were able to understand the school’s reasoning for making it. Media coverage came out fair, and though social media criticism was intense as expected, it died down fairly quickly. The school has stuck with the decision and is moving forward.

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