Why doesn't the University of Wisconsin have a baseball team?

It's baseball season again, one of the greatest times of the year is upon us. February 14 is the start of the NCAA baseball season and while that's exciting for many fanbases, it's a reminder of the pain of being a Badger fan. Wisconsin is the only Big Ten team without a baseball team and it's been this way since 1991.

While other Big Ten fanbases are starting to look at their rosters and figure out what it will look like to compete this year, especially with two new programs in Washington and Oregon, which both have decent baseball programs, Wisconsin will be watching from the bleachers. The frustrating part for baseball fans is that Wisconsin does have a softball program. Making it even more asinine that there's no baseball.

There's a consistent question Badger fans ask every year and it's "Why doesn't Wisconsin have a baseball team?" With a follow-up question "When can Wisconsin change that?"

Why doesn't Wisconsin have a baseball team?

The easy answer is that in 1991, funding was difficult to field a baseball team, so they disbanded the sport at UW. Many fans believe that the problem has to do with Title IX, a regulation by the NCAA that doesn't allow men's athletics to have more sports than women's athletics. However, when women's hockey was added, the problem was nullified, and according to Wisconsin's athletic page, there are more women's athletic programs than men's right now.

If there was a need, the other sport that Wisconsin seems to need is women's gymnastics, but that's another article for another day.

When can Wisconsin add baseball?

It seems as if they could do it as soon as they want to put funding towards it. They already have club baseball teams (which means it is fundraised and equipment is player-owned). The pivot from club to university-owned is more financial than anything, and Wisconsin would have to be committed to it.

There is a growing movement of fans that are asking and pleading for UW to bring back baseball.