Wichita State fires back after basic seating plan moves cheer and dance teams

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Wichita State athletic director Kevin Saal said in a statement Sunday night that the department will continue to stick to its basic seating plan for men’s basketball games following backlash over its impact on the cheer and dance teams.

A new premium ticket option, introduced this season as a way to increase revenue, meant relocation of school spirit squad members. While they will still perform before the game, during timeouts and halftime, some participants have been moved to the student section during the game.

Saal issued a statement to 12 News on the matter Sunday evening.

“After actively seeking input from important stakeholders, we believe we have made a thoughtful decision in the best interests of our entire athletic program, including, but not limited to, the 16 NCAA-sponsored intercollegiate athletics sports, 273 student-athletes and nearly 100 coaches and staff. However, we will take a similar analytical and thoughtful approach moving forward, continually evaluating, planning/preparing and executing what we believe is in the best interests of the entire athletics department.”

Public concerns were brought to the attention of 12 News after the team’s first exhibition game at Charles Koch Arena last week.

“I don’t want to continue to use the word disrespect and just disrespect the hard work and dedication that these athletes put in, especially because a lot of them don’t get scholarships, the dance team doesn’t get a scholarship. . And they are expected to adhere to student-athlete guidelines, but they are not treated the same as all other student-athletes,” said Wichita State Cheer alumna Faith Smith.

Other WSU Cheer alumni took to social media to express their disappointment over the changes.

Below is Saal’s full statement:

Please accept our sincere gratitude for your letter, candid thoughts and suggestions. After actively seeking input from important stakeholders, we believe we have made a thoughtful decision in the best interests of our entire athletic program, including, but not limited to, the 16 NCAA-sponsored intercollegiate athletics sports, 273 student-athletes and nearly 100 coaches and staff.

However, we will take a similar analytical and thoughtful approach moving forward, continually evaluating, planning/preparing and executing what we believe is in the best interests of the entire Athletics Department. Your feedback below is important to this process and will be considered at the appropriate time to review this decision following the conclusion of the 2024-2025 competitive season.

This decision does not affect the capacity, availability and/or ability of spirit groups to perform on the court before the game, during timeouts, halftime or after the game as they have always done.

The dialogue regarding athletics asking for food to be delivered to these premium seat holders was either miscommunicated or misinterpreted. For many years, cheerleaders/dance members (along with many other campus and community non-profit groups) have been compensated by the concessionaire operating (and being compensated for) the concession stands in the main concourse of Koch Arena as additional fundraising opportunities for support national competition (i.e. travel, accommodation, etc.). This year, Athletics paid for outside personnel (not cheerleaders and dances) to serve as primary support staff/maintainers/runners for season ticket holders in premium seats on the court.

Respectfully, my professional and/or personal considerations regarding the status of spiritual groups in relation to other intercollegiate athletics sports/programs are irrelevant. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) does not classify spiritual groups (e.g., cheerleading, dance, marching band, majorettes) as sponsored intercollegiate athletic programs. The NCAA does not distribute Grants in Assistance funds or Sports Sponsorship funds to institutions to sponsor spiritual groups. Additionally, the NCAA does not certify eligibility/amateurship (through the NCAA Clearinghouse/Eligibility Center), impose legal requirements for compliance with rules and/or require compliance with those rules, and/or hold institutions accountable for “levels of academic performance.” or “graduate success rates.” because they belong to spiritual groups. Each athletic department is charged with meeting these (and many other) NCAA requirements, mechanisms and expectations as they relate to NCAA-sponsored intercollegiate athletics programs, of which Wichita State sponsors 16.

However, while spirit groups operate outside of the core mission of the NCAA, Wichita State athletics recognizes and supports the importance of spirit groups to members and many others… as reflected in the financial support of Wichita State athletics. Compared to the 7 American Athletic Conference state institutions (ECU, FAU, Memphis, Charlotte, North Texas, South Florida and UTSA):

1. For four of the last five fiscal years, Wichita State has ranked in the top three annual alcohol group spending among its peers, despite no football-related alcohol group spending.

2. Excluding FY22, in FY19, FY20, FY21 and FY23, Wichita State provided financial support to liquor groups 64.73% higher than the peer average (50.48% higher if FY22 is included in FY22).

3. Wichita State’s average 5-year financial support for spiritual groups ($220,020) ranks highest among these peer countries.

4. Wichita State athletics increased support for spiritual groups by 61.1% from FY22 to FY23.

Attached is a compilation of data related to these four points, and it is noteworthy that the Wichita State Athletics do not incur additional costs or receive additional revenue associated with sponsoring a football program, as do their same peers; which makes even more significant the support currently being provided to Wichita State University’s spiritual groups.

While we understand, appreciate and sympathize with the disagreement and disappointment associated with this decision, we must also balance our challenge of aligning resources to meet championship-level expectations across our entire athletics program.

Take care and my best wishes,

Kevin Saal

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