It has been announced that the University of California-Berkeley plans to save $4 million next year by cutting five sports teams. The elimination of the men’s rugby, men’s baseball, men’s and women’s gymnastics and women’s lacrosse teams was disclosed in a letter by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, which was released to Berkeley students, faculty, staff and Cal supporters earlier this week.

“The senior administration working closely with Intercollegiate Athletics have concluded that we cannot sustain the level of excellence we expect of everything that we do at Cal and still maintain all of the Intercollegiate Athletic sports that we currently do,” he said in the letter.

While rugby will no longer be considered an intercollegiate sport by the department, the team, with its status as a club, will be able to compete both nationally and internationally. Though, according to the letter, a solid plan is not yet in place to follow through with this transition. Read the rest of this entry »