Pennsylvania college to eliminate all NCAA sports teams at end of school year, letter says

Bryn Athyn College in Pennsylvania is eliminating all 11 of its NCAA sports teams and its club hockey team to cut costs, according to a letter from the school’s president. 

The teams will be eliminated at the end of the academic year, and the school will also lay off all athletic staff and trainers. Ending the athletic programs will eliminate the equivalent of 11 full-time employees at the Montgomery County college, the letter says.

In a letter to the community, President Sean Connelly said cutting the teams is part of a series of “difficult — but essential changes to protect our core academic offerings and position the College for sustainable growth.”

According to its athletics website, more than half of the students are athletes, and many play two or more sports.

In the letter, the president calls the move “a necessary step” for the school’s survival. Since 2007, the school’s “total cumulative operating deficit is $48.7 million,” the letter says. 

The sports teams will be replaced by a club athletics program that is “robust, inclusive and financially sustainable,” according to the president. 

The letter says the club hockey program has a particularly storied history but is too expensive to maintain. It’s not clear at this time what sports will be included as club teams going forward.

In addition to ending all NCAA sports, the school also plans to outsource all IT operations and reorganize and streamline these departments: annual giving, alumni engagement, advancement and development, marketing and communications, internal and external partnerships, financial aid, and academic advising. Together, those two changes will eliminate the equivalent of nine full-time positions, the letter says. 

A total of 29 people are losing their jobs, according to the president.

The NCAA requires schools to have at least 10 teams to participate in Division III. The school spends 21% of its budget on sports when accounting for overhead, the president wrote. 

Founded in 1877, Bryn Athyn College is a small, private, coeducational liberal arts college dedicated to a New Church approach to education, according to its website.