Decision to Reinstate Cal Sports Could Come Thursday

The University of California is expected to make a decision as soon as Thursday about the reinstatement of five sports that were scheduled to be eliminated or -- in the case of men's rugby -- demoted by year's end.

The sports, including the venerable Cal baseball program, may have been saved by the significant fundraising efforts of a booster group called "Save Cal Sports," which has raised somewhere between $12 and $15 million toward reinstatement.

U.C. Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said that UC Chancellor Birgeneau will decide Thursday whether baseball, men's and women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse will be reinstated. The men's rugby team, a perennial national champion, is hoping to earn its varsity status back after being demoted to a varsity club sport when the cuts were announced last September.

The cuts were estimated to save the university $4 million a year.

Doug Nickle, the former Cal baseball player who has led the "Save Cal Sports" fundraising efforts, sent a note to supporters on Facebook Tuesday expressing optimism about the outcome.

"We are eager to hear from them, in the hope that they reinstate the five programs, so that we can get to work on the longer-term task of lifetime endowment," Nickle said in the message.

Nickle told the Associated Press Tuesday that "I can't find any scenario where they could say no."