Less than three weeks after Arkansas cut its men\u2019s and women\u2019s tennis programs, the university\u2019s athletic department will reinstate them ahead of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n
According to a Thursday announcement from the university, donors provided \u201cshort-term\u201d funding for both programs. Though Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek says that this funding is not a permanent solution, and that \u201ca significant endowment\u201d is needed for the teams\u2019 long-term health, it is seemingly sustainable enough for the near future.<\/p>\n
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Arkansas initially cited costs when it cut both programs<\/a> just 20 days ago.<\/p>\n The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Wednesday that supporters of the tennis teams pledged around $5 million<\/a> to help bring back the programs. Arkansas is seeking<\/a> a $50 million endowment to help fund the team long-term. (The teams combine for about $2.5 million in annual operating costs.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe have engaged in meaningful dialogue with stakeholders, including alumni and donors, to explain our rationale and listen to their concerns,\u201d Yurachek said<\/a>. \u201cWe are thankful for our generous donors that have stepped forward in recent days.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the next year, the Department of Athletics and the Razorback Foundation will closely monitor the progress of this endowment effort \u2014 ensuring it does not detract from any of our broader fundraising priorities and confirming that significant progress is being made,\u201d Yurachek continued.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n During the 2024-25 school year, Arkansas reported that its tennis teams generated just $3,284 in operating revenue. While that covers nearly none of the teams\u2019 costs, the relatively small budgets meant that the programs actually generated the smallest financial loss out of any program besides football and basketball\u2014the only two teams that gained a profit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty sad,\u201d Arkansas men\u2019s coach Jay Udwadia told FOS of the school\u2019s initial decision. \u201cA lot of players were crying\u2014just disbelief, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n After the programs were cut, a Change.org<\/a> petition<\/a> calling to reinstate them was created, garnering over 5,000 signatures. The Arkansas men played in the NCAA tournament just a week after the decision to eliminate their team, falling 4\u20133 to Cornell in the first round.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, several Division I schools have eliminated their tennis programs<\/a>, with many citing a changing landscape in college sports following the House settlement. Cut programs include the Saint Louis and North Dakota men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams, as well as the Illinois State men\u2019s team.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n However, unlike Arkansas, those aforementioned schools do not have the resources that come with playing SEC football. Arkansas shares in a SEC media rights deal that is worth roughly<\/a> $3 billion.<\/p>\n The Arkansas athletic department told FOS that they had no further comment on the matter. Udwadia and women\u2019s tennis head coach Tucker Clary, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n The post Arkansas Reinstates Tennis Teams After Donors Promise Millions<\/a> appeared first on Front Office Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than three weeks after Arkansas cut its men\u2019s and women\u2019s tennis programs, the university\u2019s athletic department will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[8897,277806,277808,152633,99,428,277778,277807],"class_list":["post-643436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-arkansas","tag-arkansas-democrat-gazette","tag-athletic-department","tag-hunter-yurachek","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-programs","tag-tennis-teams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}