Eastern Michigan students and faculty propose dropping out of D-I

Eastern Michigan students and faculty have issued a report that urges the school to drop out of Division I and find another level of collegiate athletics in an effort to save money.

"Culturally and geographically, EMU football will simply never succeed from an attendance and financial standpoint," faculty member Howard Bunsis said in a presentation to the Board of Regents on Friday. "It is a losing proposition — always has been, and always will be. We hardly raise any money for football, and our attendance is the lowest in the country. Some of you believe that we are close to succeeding, if we just throw more money at the situation. This proposition is insane.

"This has nothing to do with our performance on the field, or the quality of our coaches. Our coaches are good people and dedicated professionals. They are fighting a losing battle that cannot be won. Each and every one of you needs to reassess why you are here; if you have any sense of what is right for EMU, you will drop EMU from Division I football as soon as possible. How can you sit there and justify throwing millions of dollars away?"

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The report, which Bunsis helped prepare, said each Eastern Michigan student paid $917 out of pocket to support athletics and saw little to no return on their investment. EMU doesn’t make enough money to cover its costs because students don’t attend contests and several of the programs aren’t successful. The EMU football program hasn’t had a winning season since 1995.

According to the report, Eastern Michigan’s athletic spending has increased over the past 10 years from around $20 million in 2005 to more than $33 million in 2015 while athletic revenues have declined from around $10 million to almost $7 million.

The report to the Board of Regents came out almost the same time as HBO’s Real Sports' story regarding athletic departments financially gutting academics. The two schools profiled in the piece were Eastern Michigan and Rutgers.

The report issued by EMU funding doesn’t say it wants the school to get out of athletics altogether, but proposes moving down to Division II in football and the Horizon League in basketball.

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However, Eastern Michigan isn’t ready to entertain that idea. In a statement via the school’s athletic website, the athletic department stands by its decision to remain among Division I programs.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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