Hartford announces a move to Division III

On Thursday it was announced that Hartford University was moving forward with a plan to move all of its athletic programs to Division III. The timing of this move is shocking as the Hartford Men's basketball team is currently in its most successful stretch on the court. A few months ago there were rumblings that the University was looking into the financial ramifications of the move as an exploratory exercise. Things have obviously accelerated since then as it now seems to be a done deal. As with any transition the timeline is long with Hartford's full transition date set for the fall of 2025. For the upcoming season they will still be a full Division one member before slowly phasing out athletic scholarships. The reason for the move to DIII versus down to DII is that in DII athletic scholarships are at 80% of cost versus no athletic scholarships at the DIII level. The University line thus far is that the move is about "creating a better experience" versus financially driven but money was very much part of the decision. How did this happen? There are many factors that go into these types of decisions including the whims of a president or administration, but there are a few I would like to mention more in depth. One big factor in all college athletics is football. Conference realignment is often driven by football and athletic budgets are often driven by football. Colleges and Universities that don't have the safety net that football provides are behind the eight ball. Hartford does not have football. Another factor is what kind of fanbase the sports teams have. I can't speak to any sport other than men's basketball but for Hartford the numbers aren't good. I looked at the home attendance numbers in the America East for men's basketball since the 13-14 season when UMass Lowell entered the league (excluding last season for obvious reasons). Overall around the league attendance peaked in the 15-16 season with an average of 1,857 fans per home game across the league. The 19-20 season was actually the lowest of the seven year period with only 1,603 fans per home game. The highest average home attendance over the seven year period is Albany with 2,657 fans per home game and the lowest is New Hampshire with 596 (!!!!) fans per home game. (A quick aside in the discussion is how depressing the attendance numbers for UNH are. High school basketball games in Vermont are more well attended than that. Ouch.) Vermont has averaged 2,443 fans per home game during this stretch. Hartford sits in 5th place with an average of 1,355 fans per home game. Attendance overall has been dropping over the seven year period with only Vermont and UMBC seeing more fans in the 19-20 season than their seven year average. That would make sense as both programs have experienced an increase in on court success over that time. Albany has seen the biggest drop in attendance which also makes sense as they have seen a decrease in success. Hartford is an interesting outlier. As they have seen more on court success, their home attendance has dwindled. During the 13-14 season Hartford averaged 1,830 fans per home game. Respectable. During the 19-20 season, a season which saw the Hawks make the championship, they averaged 948 fans per home game. That is a huge drop. During the 18-19 season the number was 849 fans per home game. They are the only team in the America East that seemingly lost fans as they became more competitive. I know that was a long attendance diatribe, but I think it is relevant to how sports are perceived by the university and the community. It is sad to see Hartford on their way out. So where does the America East go from here? It will be interesting to see if they try and add a team or go back to the nine member format they had until last season. This inevitably starts the should Vermont leave the conference debate which is silly. If anything it should remind fans that many athletic departments are running on a shoestring budget and Vermont is no different. Vermont also does not have football and is not in a large metro area so taking for granted how they have managed to do so much with so little can't be overlooked. Vermont doesn't have the financial stability to move to a conference like the A10 and the A10 isn't interested in a team with no major TV market to cash in on. That just leaves moving to another one bid league which doesn't make much sense as they are already in a one bid league makes the most sense geographically This is a big blow to the America East as they finally got to the 10 team threshold and were building toward a stronger league. It will be interesting to see how the process plays out and what the league looks like on the other side.