The Maryland Terrapins water polo program is one of many that is going to be cut due to budgetary reasons, but the sports affected have been given a chance to raise eight years worth of funding by June 30, 2012 to keep the program alive. The water polo team would need to fundraising just over $8 million and that is a huge goal, but now there has been an adjustment to what needs to be earned:
The fund-raising timeline will be extended to Dec. 31, 2012 to raise $2,102,683, provided cash gifts are deposited in the University of Maryland, College Park Foundation account totaling $1,051,341 by June 30, 2012.
Further, the eight-year total goal of $4,205,366 would be due by Dec. 31, 2013. The goal to establish the full endowment necessary to ensure the program's long-term sustainability remains in place. The full endowment amount of $13.1 million will be due by June 2020.
This is a good effort that the school is doing to help give the water polo team a more manageable chance of surviving, however reaching the just over $1 million mark by June 30 is tough. Even if they make that goal they have only six months to double that amount to keep the program going.
While this helps out the program it also leads to some uncertainty for current players, because the season begins in January so they must decide to stick it out and hope the goal is met by Dec. 31 or transfer if they want to keep playing at the varsity level. I am assuming there will be some amnesty clause to allow players to transfer at the end of the fall semester or this spring and be able to play right away at another school if they wish.
Here is more information on how you can help save Maryland water polo.
