One of the dumbest decisions ever

D'Amato: 26 years later, UW still without varsity baseball

When the University of Wisconsin dropped varsity baseball in 1991, there were valid reasons. The athletic department faced a $2.1 million budget shortfall, spending was outpacing revenue and the financial outlook was bleak.

Surely, it pained then-athletic director Pat Richter, an all-Big Ten, power-hitting first baseman for the Badgers in the early 1960s, to lop baseball (along with men’s and women’s fencing and gymnastics), but he had little choice.

Twenty-six years later, the climate has changed dramatically.

The football and men’s basketball programs, with annual bowl game and NCAA tournament appearances, are cash cows. The Big Ten’s TV contracts are worth a reported $2.64 billion over six years; Wisconsin budgeted for $41.5 million in media rights revenue in 2017-’18.

The athletic department’s facilities master plan for the next decade calls for more premium-level seating at Camp Randall Stadium – which underwent a major renovation 15 years ago – and an addition to the Kohl Center.

Still, Wisconsin remains the only Big Ten school without baseball. And the subject of bringing it back is dead on arrival at athletic director Barry Alvarez’s doorstep.

“As we look forward and anticipate, our costs are going to continue to rise,” Alvarez told me. “Right now, we’re able to allow all 23 varsity sports to operate and be competitive. The cost of adding baseball is much higher than people think.

“Plus, you’d have to add another sport (to remain compliant with Title IX). It’s not feasible for us to add two sports. I was charged to run 23 varsity sports and that’s what we do. If it made sense to add baseball, I would do it. I like baseball.”

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