As schools throughout the nation eradicate varsity sports activities as a cost-saving measure, Fairleigh Dickinson is doing the opposite.
The non-public New Jersey college is including males’s fencing beginning in 2027, a transfer that deputy athletic director Jason Young mentioned ought to contribute tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in annual internet revenue for the college as soon as the workforce is absolutely shaped.
No, males’s fencing received’t promote a ton of tickets or convey a flood of donations, nor are the media rights beneficial. But the Knights select to account for sports activities on their ledger by together with the schooling paid by athletes—and fencing isn’t significantly costly to supply. With that holistic view, new groups can contribute to the division’s backside line quickly after launching.
“Every fencing program in America should be profitable,” Young mentioned in an interview.
Fairleigh Dickinson’s plan, in line with Young, is to begin with 10 male fencers in 2027 and develop to a full workforce of 24 by 2030. If the Knights finally unfold six full scholarships throughout this system, that could possibly be 18 extra tuitions, which, for this yr, is about $37,300 per scholar. For a small, non-public, enrollment-driven faculty like FDU, these college students slot in with little extra stress on the college’s broader infrastructure.
In addition to the monetary raise, FDU is hoping including fencing helps with just a few broader macro challenges. The faculty, which competes within the Northeast Conference, has not but opted into the House settlement, but it surely intends to, and this might offset any spots misplaced as a result of new roster restrict guidelines. For instance, 18 new fencers would greater than offset the lack of 9 baseball gamers and 5 males’s soccer gamers.
In addition, colleges throughout the nation are dealing with slowing functions—a problem colloquially referred to as the “enrollment cliff”—which locations an added premium on something that brings new candidates who may in any other case look elsewhere. According to knowledge from the National Center for Education Statistics, FDU’s full-time undergraduate enrollment at its Teaneck, N.J., campus dipped 25% from Fall 2013 (2,727) to Fall 2023 (2,037). The FDU athletic division consists of 21 groups and practically 400 athletes.
This all-in type of college sports accounting has been championed by economists who imagine the siloed nature of many athletic departments power them to make monetary selections with out correctly weighing the campus-wide influence. And it isn’t the primary time FDU has made this transfer.
Back in 2021, as colleges throughout the nation reduce applications to offset shortfalls from the COVID-19 pandemic, FDU added two sports—males’s volleyball and girls’s lacrosse. Young mentioned each are actually contributing at the least $300,000 in annual internet revenue for the college. Men’s volleyball is at its max roster dimension, however this yr the college grew its ladies’s lacrosse roster from 27 to 34, Young mentioned, which ought to create much more upside.
FDU already has a ladies’s fencing workforce, which is able to assist the brand new males’s workforce hold prices down. Unlike sports activities resembling basketball or soccer, fencing groups journey collectively and compete in the identical occasions. There might be some extra overlap in staffing, tools and amenities, with the college seemingly renting a close-by facility. All advised, Young mentioned he expects the brand new program’s working prices and salaries might be round $150,000 yearly.
In addition to the schooling, FDU obtained a three-year grant from USA Fencing—Young wouldn’t specify the quantity—that can defray a number of the upfront value.
The danger right here for FDU is that it fails to draw sufficient tuition-paying male fencers to offset the price of this system. Young mentioned he’s not too nervous about that risk, citing the general monetary well being of the FDU athletics.
“We had a $3.8 million deficit in 2020,” Young mentioned. “Once we rolled out that strategic plan, we were down about $430,000 last year and are trending toward being net profitable this year.”