Hello!
We want to update you on our efforts to preserve Olympic sports and the impact your signature has had.

Last week, the number of conferences requesting the NCAA suspend the minimum sports requirement rose from five to twenty-seven.         But guess what - during that same period, our petition went from less than 800 signatures to more than 60,000 (and counting).

The good news.....your voice is being heard.  On Friday, Grace Calhoun, the Chair of the NCAA Division I council stated that a "blanket waiver of sport sponsorship requirements is not in keeping with our values and will not be considered."

Link to full story; https://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2020-04-24/ncaa-denies-request-to-drop-division-i-sport-minimum

This is great news, HOWEVER there's work to be done. First, the Council will allow individual schools for a waiver to reduce the minimum number of sports. Moreover, the NCAA Board of Governors could over-rule the Council's decision when it meets this week. Considering the commissioners made their request directly to President Emmert and the Board, we need to continue leading them to #saveoursports.

To do do that, we ask that you help recruit one new person to our petition. There are 141,483 Division I student-athletes participating in Olympic Sports. Though most will go pro in something other than their chosen sport, we need each one of them (and their parents, friends and coaches) to join us in this fight.

You can also spread the word on social media by sharing what college sports means to you - whether a current student-athlete, fan, alumni, coach or parent. Tag @ncaa and use the hashtag #saveoursports. [Example: https://twitter.com/shelbmullendore/status/1253115723674779648

The finish line of our collective efforts is "no NCAA sport program should be cut."  Though there is still much work to be done, we are making tremendous progress.  Thank you again for your support! 

Bill