I get a lot of questions asked about ET athletics all the time, especially after the move to Division I. They are usually ones that are redundant, such as “When are we going to get a new stadium or renovate the existing one?”

“What is going to happen to the Fieldhouse?”

“Why can’t we have Men’s Soccer?”

“Will Tennis ever come back?”

These are just some examples, but the most popular question surrounds baseball. Alums, Hunt County residents, and students in Commerce are desperate to have a baseball program because the thought of having a baseball park on a Saturday afternoon in the spring is a dream that has been dreamt up since before I went to school there. There was always a desire to have a team sport to watch after Basketball season ends. I know that softball has been a boost to that (with the exception of the past 4 seasons, but that is for another day).

Also, with seeing how much more popular Soccer has become by the way fans acted during this Summer’s World Cup being hosted in The US but also having matches played in DFW, it shows that ET could easily have a Men’s program at some point in the future and also add to that the international student population that loves the game the call football and you have a base to build on.

So, why can’t we do this? Answer is pretty simple. Title IX.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed on June 23, 1972, that bans sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. It ensures equal opportunity in academics, athletics, and protects against sexual harassment. So, what does that have to do with why East Texas A&M can’t have baseball? This is the most simple way I can explain it.

Let’s say that the total athletic budget for East Texas A&M Athletics is 20 Million dollars. I have no idea if that is even close to being correct, but let’s use a nice square number for purposes of illustration. According to title IX, the university must spend as much money on Women’s Sports as it does Men’s Sports. So, if the total budget is 20 million athletic department wide, 10 million must be allocated for Men’s and 10 Million for Women’s sports.

As of now, Men have the following sports-

Football

Basketball

Cross Country

Golf

Track

Now, let’s compare What the Women have-

Volleyball

Basketball

Cross Country

Soccer

Golf

Track

Softball

Dance (I’m talking about the School sponsored dance team not the wannabes that don’t even wear school colors and take up an entire fan section)

Cheerleading (This may or may not be included)

So, why can’t Men have soccer or baseball as well? Why only 5 sports for Men and 7-8 for Women?

Well, let’s take a look at how much ET spent in football in the 2024 season.

Using this figure, Football accounts for nearly half of the Men’s athletic budget if you were using 10 Million as your figure. Even if it was 20 Million and the total budget was 40 for Men’s and Women’s it would still be close to a quarter of your expenses and operating budget.

Do the women have a sport that requires that much expenses? Think about it. Football you have a roster cap of 105 players. That means jerseys, practice equipment, game equipment, locker room maintenance, helmets, transportation which typically means charter buses and airplanes, hotel expenses, food, and various other expenses. That is a lot of money.

Now let’s compare Women’s sports. If you were to add every player on the Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, Softball, and Soccer teams, you MIGHT get to 85 athletes give or take, and you certainly don’t have the extra expenses such as helmets, pads, and other things that come with having a football program. Football also has more coaches and assistants than any other sport. I will say that I have always believed that football should have it taken into account that they also bring in more gross revenue the any other sport does. No sporting event has ever generated as much money as when 12,000 plus fans packed Hawkins Field at Memorial in December of 2017 for the National Semifinal game. Between admissions, parking, concessions, and fan merchandise, that game brought a lot money for the school and the town. However, no such exemption exists.

So, how does ET look at getting extra sports for Men?

Well, one thing that is perhaps the most realistic is tennis. Usually tennis produces the same amount of expenses for both genders. A tennis program would cost basically the same to run for both Men’s and Women’s. They use the same equipment, use the same facilities, and a scholarship would cost the same. You just need the administration to do what needs to be done and lobby the A&M system for the money necessary to add to the athletic budget.

Baseball and Soccer are comparable as well, but again, see my previous paragraph. You need to have a lot of overlap in a Woman’s Sport that currently exists in order for that to happen. Same facilities, same expenses, same scholarship allocation, ETC. And honestly, Men’s Soccer would be more likely than Men’s Baseball because of the same use of the fields and same cost of the sports. Soccer is soccer regardless of the gender, but Baseball costs more than softball as a general rule.

That said, none of this will happen unless you get administrators on board who want to see the sports brought back to East Texas A&M. That includes fund raising, lobbying A&M system regents, and building the right kind of student body up to support these sports. Until that happens, don’t even think about yelling play ball just yet.