Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif., is reinstating 10 men’s and women’s Division II NCAA sports teams after eliminating athletics amid a budget crisis in early 2025.
The university faced outcry and a lawsuit over its decision to eliminate sports last year as part of broader cuts to close a $24 million deficit.
A campus feasibility team studied the topic and recommended restarting 13 men’s and women’s sports, describing athletics as vital to the institution and arguing they should be a funding priority.
Beginning in the 2027-28 academic year, Sonoma State athletes will play in 10 Division II sports in the California Collegiate Athletic Conference, including women’s basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, and volleyball programs, as well as men’s basketball, cross country, golf, and soccer programs.
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Recruitment will begin when the university fills the coach and staffing positions for the sports, and the programs will get a boost from a one-time $8 million injection from the state dedicated to helping Sonoma State restart athletics.
The feasibility team advised using a large chunk of the $8 million for track and artificial turf, as well as for a new gym floor and upgraded training facilities, part of a larger $45 million state infusion last June to help stabilize Sonoma State’s finances and invest in new programs.
The team assumed a $7.6 million budget for the program, and time will tell if Sonoma State’s relaunched athletics program can be sustained without weighing on the institution’s overall budget.
Since the retrenchment announcement, Sonoma State brought in Michael Spagna in January to spearhead its turnaround as president, and he said this April, “We’re out of the cutting mode, we are in the mode of strategic investment.”
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The decision to fold its athletics program accompanied a plan to cut over 20 academic programs and dozens of faculty and staff positions, but Sonoma State has also revived some of the programs it had previously suspended, including physics and geology.
The cuts were met with grief and anger among the Sonoma State community, and the decision to eliminate NCAA sports and academic programs drew a lawsuit from several college athletes, who alleged that officials violated regulatory procedures and knew long before the announcement they would shutter the sports programs.
Many colleges struggle with the financial tensions inherent in collegiate sports, as they can help attract college athletes and others who see sports as a key part of the college experience, but they are often very expensive to maintain.
