The Northeastern football program will come to an end after 74 years, according to university officials today.
The athletics program will drop the sport because officials are "unwilling to invest the millions of dollars needed to improve the team to meet the school's ambitions," reports The Boston Globe.
The Globe adds:
The move evokes memories of 1997, when Boston University cut its losing football team after 91 seasons and redirected the money to build an athletic complex and boost women's sports by funding more scholarships for female athletes. The decision to kill the program at BU was announced before the end of the season on a Saturday night, after the team had lost its homecoming game, 28-7, to Northeastern.
The ripple effects of the decision will be felt across college football. Colonial Athletic Association rival Delaware University is taking note, with Delaware Online calling the move "hardly suprising, but nonetheless, sad news."
More from the AP:
BOSTON -- Northeastern University is dropping its football program after 74 years, saying it's too expensive to maintain.
President Joseph Aoun and the board of trustees endorsed the move Friday after a two-year review of the Boston school's sports programs by athletic director Peter Roby.
The program's 87 players and 10 coaches learned of the program's demise Sunday night at a meeting on campus with Roby, a day after the Football Championship Subdivision team won its final game 33-27 at Rhode Island. The Huskies won their final two games to finish 3-8, their sixth consecutive losing season.
The school made the announcement on its Web site Monday.
The school will honor team members' athletic scholarships.
Northeastern, which began playing football in 1933, had an all-time record of 289-364-17.