Tony Weaver, associate professor of sport management and chair of the Department of Sport Management, was recently featured in two articles on the future of college athletics following the COVID-19 pandemic.
With some uncertainty surrounding upcoming college athletics seasons, Associate Professor of Sport Management Tony Weaver offered insights in two recent articles by sports media outlet Deadspin about COVID-19’s potential impacts on college sports.
On May 7 Deadspin included Weaver’s thoughts on the financial burden COVID-19 has caused athletics departments across the nation in the article “Coronavirus shutdown threatens future of many college programs.”
The article discusses programs that have had to make cuts to staff and even entire sports programs due to the pandemic. Weaver discussed the efforts of athletics departments to protect their sports programs in the wake of the pandemic.
“All of this becomes personal,” said Weaver, who also serves as chair of Elon’s Department of Sport Management. “You never want a student athlete’s career to end this way. Athletic directors don’t wake up thinking, ‘I’m going to save money and cut a program, and that way, our teams, our coaches, don’t get to participate anymore.’ That’s not what you want to do.”
On May 8 Deadspin mentioned Weaver in a second article focused on how changes to Title IX legislation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially impact women’s college athletics programs. Read the entire article, “As Athletics Budgets Plunge, Who’s Fighting For Women’s Sports On Campus,” here.