For Lesser Northridge Sports, the Big Sky’s the Limit

The Cal State Northridge athletic department of the near future could consist of two distinctly different groups of sports: the haves and the have-nots.

Rather than making across-the-board cuts to help fund the additions required for the school to join the Big Sky Conference next season, Athletic Director Paul Bubb said Thursday his inclination is to cut some sports to the bare bones, leaving others intact so they can produce revenue.

“In order for revenue to increase,” Bubb said, “we are going to have to spend more to make more. [We have to] put some money behind programs to help them win, to get crowds to come watch them play.”

Bubb will meet today with Ron Kopita, Northridge vice president in charge of student affairs, to discuss the transition to the Big Sky. Their recommendation will go to Blenda J. Wilson, the school’s president, for final approval, probably sometime next week.

Bubb won’t finalize any proposal until after today’s meeting with Kopita.

“There are still a couple of different scenarios out there,” Bubb said, “but I have put together one I can live with.”

The Big Sky invited Northridge to join beginning in the fall. The conditions are that the Matadors gradually increase their football scholarships from 20 to 63, add women’s golf and men’s tennis and renovate some facilities.

A task force convened in the fall to examine how the change could be made while staying within Northridge’s budget. The group concluded that Northridge should trim the budgets of all sports, rather than eliminate any.

Bubb, who was not a member of the task force, agreed he would like to see Northridge maintain all of its sports, but he said cutting all sports equally might create “mediocrity across the board, and that’s not something I want to be a part of.”

Bubb also disagreed with the task force on the issue of gender equity.

The committee concluded that Northridge should not worry immediately about the gender-equity problem created by adding so many football scholarships.

Schools have until 1998 to comply with the regulations, which were the result of a lawsuit by the California chapter of the National Organization for Women against the Cal State system.