The University of Maryland announced yesterday that it will be cutting eight non-revenue sports effective June 30, 2012 to balance the athletic department’s budget. The program is facing declining revenues from its football and basketball programs. The sports to be eliminated are men’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, men’s cross-country, both men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s water polo and aerobics and tumbling.

This is not the first time in recent years that multiple non-revenue sports have attempted to be cut from a major Division 1 university. Last year, University of California-Berkeley stopped supporting five non-revenue sports, but all five teams received enough donations to stay afloat, according to Bloomberg.

Even though the vast majority of non-revenue sports lose money, they provide many benefits and should be kept at all costs.

Giving more people a chance to go to college — The main benefit of having non-revenue sports is each year, it gives thousands of young adults who might not have been able to attend college the ability to do so. Attending college provides many career and networking opportunities. Being on a collegiate team builds communication and leadership skills, establishes discipline, time management and fosters a strong work ethic. Higher levels of competition and training — Critics of non-revenue sports say that these sports could just be offered at the club level. However the competition and training quality is simply not the same at the club and varsity level. Varsity sports hire multiple full-time coaches, who are experts in the sport they coach. Club sports may or may not have a coach and those that do, the coaches aren’t full-time. Varsity sports have their administrative duties handled by the athletic department, where as club sports must handle it themselves. Varsity sports hold rigorous, year-round training and practice schedules and student-athletes must maintain a high commitment level. The teams travel nationally and provide high levels of competition. A club sport usually can only travel regionally and typically doesn’t require as much commitment and skill. Benefits to professional and Olympic sports — College coaches are responsible for identifying the majority of the premier youth athletes. If non-revenue sports are cut across the country, this means there will be less people scouting out the best talent the nation offers. Gifted athletes may then decide to go into revenue sports to have a better chance at a scholarship. Once the athletes come to college, the coaches train their student-athletes to reach their full potential. Many former non-revenue student-athletes excel at the professional and global levels including Hope Solo, Justin Verlander , Phil Mickelson, Misty May-Treanor and Tyson Gay. At N.C . State, twelve swimmers have been in the Olympics, including 2008 Summer Olympics U.S.A gold medal winner, Cullen Jones. Encourages involvement in sports and exercise — Many children become interested in sports by attending athletic events. Due to the growing percentage of overweight and obese people, it is more important now than ever that kids take an interest in some sport or staying physically active. Not every kid will be interested in playing football or basketball. In many areas across the country, college sports are the highest level offered and as a result many children look up to student-athletes. If non-revenue sports are cut it will be more difficult for children and youth teams to see high-quality levels of non-revenue sports and boys and girls would be less likely to get into sports. Opportunities for women — As a result of Title IX, women and men are given equal opportunity in collegiate athletics. Unfortunately, college athletics is one of the few places in society where this is truly offered. Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, the number of women involved with sports has increased approximately six times according to the Badger Herald. All women’s sports are considered non-revenue; therefore, cutting non-revenue sports would certainly mean cutting some women’s sports. This could damper progress made in gender equality over the years.