Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.
Your timeline and inbox is probably full of nothing but Sorsby talk, right? Let me try to cleanse your palate a bit and touch on a few other off-the-field stories you might have missed over the last few days…
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Columbia adds women’s wrestling, and they’re not alone
There are plenty of Olympic sports programs that are in danger of being dropped all over the country (especially tennis), but sports aren’t only being dropped. Earlier this week, Columbia announced the addition of their 32nd varsity program: women’s wrestling.
"Women's wrestling has experienced tremendous growth at both the national and collegiate levels, and Columbia is proud to take this important step by becoming the first Ivy League institution to offer the sport at the varsity level," said {Columbia AD Peter] Pilling. "Elevating our existing club team to varsity status reflects both the momentum of the sport and Columbia's commitment to providing opportunities for elite student-athletes to compete at the highest level."
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A $10 million endowment has been established to support the program's long-term financial and operational needs.
A handful of D-I programs currently offer the sport, like Iowa, Delaware State, Lehigh and Lindenwood, along with dozens of D-II and D-III programs. Unlike most (certainly not all) of the programs who have recently added the sport, Columbia isn’t exactly hurting in the enrollment category. This is a sport addition born out of values, rather than immediate financial need.
Like a few of the other commonly added new sports, like women’s flag football, stunt and women’s beach volleyball, women’s wrestling isn’t particularly expensive, making it potentially attractive to administrators as a way to boost enrollment, Title IX compliance, or to provide new competitive opportunities. But I’m hearing women’s sports aren’t the only ones who are enjoying a little momentum.
While I was in Vegas at NACDA earlier this week, I heard from multiple school officials who told me they’re considering adding fencing, including some schools well outside the traditional coastal footprint for the sport. USA Fencing is on a recruiting tear right now, and schools from the south to the west are listening.
This isn’t to say that other sports won’t be dropped in the near future, or that the financial footing for programs outside of football and basketball is completely sound. But don’t be surprised to see more of these announcements before the start of the 2026-2027 athletic season.
More programs are leaving Under Armour
Under Armour’s collegiate problems have been well documented, but the brand isn’t trying to completely withdraw from the college market. After all, UA signed extensions with Notre Dame and Wisconsin recently, and added Georgia Tech for this year. Extra Points #sources have told me that UA also very much attempted to add other mid-major schools to their portfolio over the last several months.
But now you can add two more high profile defections. Utah, one of the company’s remaining major P4 brands, will not renew their contract. The news was first reported, I believe, by Sports Business Journal. While the school has not officially signed with any new apparel partner yet and nothing is finalized, the current favorite, I’m told, is adidas.
Davidson, another high profile Under Armour partner, will also sign with Nike/BSN.
Other major programs, like South Carolina and Auburn, have recently left Under Armour, and few major schools are approaching “free agency” in the immediate future. While there’s always room to grow the brand at the mid-major level, as well as the individual athlete level, the short-term outlook isn’t great.
What’s it like to watch international soccer from the best, or worst, seats in the house?
The World Cup kicked off yesterday (Congrats to Mexico, even though the event won’t REALLY get going at Extra Points HQ until Brazil plays Morocco on Saturday), as you’ve probably noticed, it’s going to cost roughly a gazillion dollars if you want to travel to see a match.
Amanda Mull, an excellent business reporter and a degenerate college football fan, wrote this thoughtful story over at Bloomberg that explores why tickets for everything seem to be getting more expensive, and why. This, in particular, has stuck out to me:
It’s easy to watch a major college football game for less than $50 and most NFL games for $150. But when you look at how prices have changed over time, you can see why Infantino might have thought FIFA could get away with this. Earlier this year the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the price of attending a sporting event in the US had indeed surged 123% since 2000, far outpacing overall inflation.
Watching a game of any kind has become the province of the affluent, and stadiums and arenas are remaking themselves in their image. Witness amenities such as Allegiant Stadium’s Wynn Field Club in Las Vegas, where an end zone booth for 12 can cost into the mid-five figures for a single event and attendees can order bottle service. Or the newly announced Arc at Kaseya Center in Miami, where memberships starting at more than $21,000 per season let fans watch Heat players walk back and forth from the locker room from the luxury of a private club.
So what, exactly, are fans getting for their money?
This trend is absolutely happening in college football (‘make more money serving a smaller number of fans’ is the core economic thesis behind Northwestern’s new stadium, and they’re not alone), but it’s also a thing in professional sports, from soccer to basketball. The economics of live events are shifting, and there are ways to generate more revenue beyond simply trying to move as many tickets, parking spaces, hot dogs and beers as possible.
Is that a good thing? I don’t think Northwestern is doing anything unethical by building a smaller, (but fancier) stadium or anything, nor do I think there are problems with offering ultra-elite experiences if there are folks demanding it. But focusing on the wealthiest consumers is a trend not unique to just athletics, and it’s reasonable to worry about what happens if more and more regular people get priced out from the foundational experiences of fandom.
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Hey, what else did we do this week?
A lot!
Dennis, KC and I were all in Vegas for NACDA from Sunday-Wednesday. Here are some of my big takeaways from the conference, from Sorsby concerns to governance reforms to a major trend in industry vendors.
KC also interviewed some communications folks to better understand what it means to use AI in college athletics effectively, without displacing workers OR creating crap content. This is a trend that I think we’ll probably revisit a few times this year in other departments, since administrators ask us about it on a regular basis.
I filed a bunch of FOIAs to figure out how much it costs to book a college sports halftime show. Since this story published, several other schools have gotten back to us (like Tennessee, Nebraska, Texas Tech, USF and others), but I know the one you’re all REALLY interested in. The good folks at Michigan State sent over their contract for a performance from the one and only, Red Panda.
In my humble opinion, if you can book Red Panda for under $7,000….you’re getting a screaming deal. She’s worth every penny, and if the response on social media was any indication, she could probably raise her rates a bit.
And oh yeah, last week, we launched a completely free tool for college administrators and coaches to look for and set up non-conference games, in any sport.
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Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on the internet next week.
-Matt
