Hofstra ends its football program

I found out that Hofstra is ending its football program. The announcement states that this decision reflects a strategic reallocation of the university's resources. The president Stuart Rabinowitz stated that the football program costs about $4.5 million a year and is the most costly sports expenditure. The feeling was that the program did not bring enough recognition to this fine university for the money spent.

For many years Karen, Lee and I have attended games at James Shuart Stadium on the campus. It certain was an entertainment value at $10/ticket. We could never get tickets for the Giants and Jets anyway. It was always disappointing to observe small crowds at this stadium. In the announcement the president stated that on a typical game day only about 500 students attended at no cost to them. Apparently, most students go home for weekend and are not there to see the games. Schools like Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Mississippi are in communities where the college is everything and thus can draw crowds up to 100,000 for a game. Hofstra is just a blip on the New York metropolitan area scene.

We will continue to go to basketball games there especially with the Knicks doing so poorly (4-15 at this writing). In the fall we'll still go to CW Post but look into seeing games at Fordham, Iona, and Columbia.