Student Athletes React to St. Francis College Eliminating Athletics Program

St. Francis College in Downtown Brooklyn announced that it will eliminate its Division I athletics program, effective at the end of the spring 2023 semester.
Currents News Jessica Easthope spoke with student athletes about the announcement and has their reactions from downtown Brooklyn.

[@classicalliberal70]

Nice to see that Monica Vargo transferred to Fairfield and is continuing here volleyball career.

[@FreedomForever2010]

I don't see why only the athlete-students would be interviewed for this story. Why not interview the normal students who won't be forced to carry the financial burden of an athletics program that doesn't benefit them? St. Francis Brooklyn should be applauded for what they have done here. If the NBA wants up and coming basketball players, the NBA should pay for a full minor league system. If the NFL wants up and coming football players, the NFL should pay for a full minor league. If USA Swimming wants to have the next generation of Olympic swimmers, then USA Swimming should pay for the development of those swimmers. The same for USA Volleyball, USA Gymnastics, and so on. In each of these cases, that top tier organization reaps all the financial rewards, so they should have to pay the money to develop the talents they need to do it! Also, there seems to be some confusion among these athlete-students, a lot of them are acting like this somehow prevents them from doing their sport, but that is completely false. There are plenty of community leagues, there are intramural leagues, there are intercollegiate club sports. The only difference is who pays for it. If the sport is that important for these students, and they don't have the potential to get one of those top tier organizations to pay for it, then the student should pay for it themselves, out of "love of the game," in the exact same manner all the rest of the student body has to foot the bill for their passion projects.

[@huskyfaninmass1042]

Why didn't they just go to non-scholarship Div III?

[@classicalliberal70]

@@huskyfaninmass1042 Saint Francis moved their campus to a office building and has no athletic facilities