Buffalo Bulls baseball is not a business anyone buys or sells. There is no owner in the sense that fans think of when they picture a professional franchise.
Instead, the program sits inside a public university system. The University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York, has always held the actual authority over the team, its budget, and its future.
This article breaks down that governance chain in plain terms. Who reports to whom, who signed off on the biggest decision in the program history, and where things stand today.
That biggest decision is unavoidable. Buffalo Bulls baseball was discontinued after the 2017 season, and it has not returned. So this is also a story about why a public university chooses to cut a sport, and whether that choice still holds up years later.
Curious how a public school with a state governed board actually pulls the trigger on ending a team, and whether the door is truly closed for good? Keep reading.
Table of Contents
Quick Facts: Buffalo Bulls Baseball Governance
| Program | Buffalo Bulls Baseball (Discontinued) |
| Governing Institution | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| Athletic Director | Mark Alnutt, Vice President and Director of Athletics |
| Head Coach | Position eliminated in 2017; final coach was Ron Torgalski |
| Conference | Formerly the MAC (Mid American Conference) |
| Founded | 1949 as a varsity program; discontinued in 2017 |
| Home Stadium | Amherst Audubon Field |
| Ownership Type | Public University Athletic Department / SUNY Board of Trustees |
Who Actually Governs Buffalo Bulls Baseball
Ownership at a public university flows top down through a state governed board, not a private individual writing checks.
The chain starts with the SUNY Board of Trustees, moves through the university president, then the athletic director, and finally to whoever leads a given team. For baseball, that last link has been empty since 2017.
Vice President and Director of Athletics
Position vacant since the 2017 discontinuation
A Timeline of Buffalo Bulls Baseball History
The program stretches back further than most fans realize, with newspaper accounts of UB baseball dating to 1894, long before it became an official varsity sport.
UB officially fields a varsity baseball team, formalizing a game the campus had played informally for decades.
Buffalo reaches the NCAA Division I tournament for the second time in program history, following a first appearance in 1971.
Buffalo baseball begins full membership in the Mid American Conference, competing in the East Division at the Division I level.
UB eliminates baseball along with three other sports as part of an athletics budget reduction, cutting the department from twenty teams to sixteen.
Baseball remains absent from the roster of sports as UB welcomes incoming president Caroline Genco, who succeeds Satish Tripathi.
Who Is Currently In Charge of Buffalo Athletics
Mark Alnutt has served as Vice President and Director of Athletics at UB since 2018. He oversees all sixteen varsity programs currently sponsored by the department, none of which is baseball.
Above Alnutt sits the university president, a role now transitioning to Caroline Genco, a Buffalo native and former Tufts University provost who was approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees in June 2026 and takes office in mid August 2026.
The SUNY Board of Trustees itself is the ultimate governing body, appointed by the New York governor and legislature, overseeing every campus in the SUNY system, not just UB.
Why Buffalo Bulls Baseball Was Discontinued in 2017
In April 2017, UB announced it would cut baseball along with men soccer, swimming and diving, and women rowing at the end of that spring season, according to UB own reporting on the reduction.
Then President Satish Tripathi said the school no longer had the resources to support twenty competitive Division I teams. Then Athletic Director Allen Greene called the reductions reluctant but necessary, citing an unsustainable financial path.
The move was projected to save roughly two million dollars annually. A detailed account of the final season and the players caught in the middle of it appears in the Buffalo News feature on the decision.
Is Buffalo Doing A Good Job Running The Bulls Baseball Program: Is The Investment Really Worth It
There is a fair case on both sides of this question, and it deserves an honest look rather than a simple verdict.
The case for the cut: Buffalo athletics operates on one of the leaner budgets in the MAC, competing against private schools and larger public flagships for facilities, travel, and coaching salaries. Redirecting resources into fewer, better funded programs can raise the ceiling for the sports that remain, and Title IX compliance was part of the review that led to the decision.
The case against the cut: baseball had a real history at UB, including two NCAA tournament trips and dozens of MLB draft picks since 1965. Cutting it removed a pipeline of scholarship opportunities and alumni engagement that is hard to rebuild once it is gone, and nine years later the program still has not returned even as some MAC peers kept their baseball programs running.
Whether the investment was worth ending really depends on what UB values most: broad sport sponsorship or concentrated spending on fewer teams. So far, the university has stuck with the concentrated approach.
Where Did Buffalo Bulls Baseball Play Its Home Games
Buffalo played its home schedule at Amherst Audubon Field, a facility on the university campus. According to the program history recorded on Wikipedia entry for Buffalo Bulls baseball, the venue hosted UB baseball throughout its final decade of competition.
The field has not hosted a varsity UB baseball game since 2017, though the university still maintains athletics facilities across campus for its current sixteen sports.
What Conference Did Buffalo Bulls Baseball Compete In
From 2001 through 2017, Buffalo competed as a full member of the MAC, playing in the East Division against schools such as Ohio, Kent State, and Miami of Ohio. Before that, the team spent 2000 competing as an independent.
The MAC itself continued sponsoring baseball with its remaining member schools after Buffalo departed the sport, so the conference structure was never the reason baseball ended. The decision was entirely a UB budget call.
How Funding And Revenue Sharing Pressures Are Reshaping Mid Major Athletics
The bigger financial story in college sports right now is the House v NCAA settlement, approved in 2025, which allows schools to share revenue directly with athletes for the first time.
For power conference programs, this mostly changes how football and basketball money gets distributed. For a mid major athletic department like Buffalo, it raises a harder question: schools already choosing between sports on a tight budget must now also fund a new revenue sharing pool, which experts say could push more MAC level departments toward further sport reductions rather than additions.
In that climate, a discontinued sport like baseball becomes harder, not easier, to bring back, since new dollars are more likely to reinforce existing revenue producing programs like football and basketball.
Could The Buffalo Bulls Baseball Program Ever Return
A return is not impossible, but nothing currently on the record points toward it. UB has not announced any plan, fundraising campaign, or timeline to reinstate baseball since the 2017 cut.
Bringing back a Division I program typically requires new facility investment, a full coaching staff, scholarship funding, and Title IX balancing against the rest of the department, all layered on top of the new revenue sharing obligations described above.
For a broader look at how ownership and governance structures compare across other well known organizations, see our coverage of who owns Fox News and who owns the NFL.
Frequently Asked Questions About Buffalo Bulls Baseball Ownership
Who owns the Buffalo Bulls baseball program?
No private owner exists. The program falls under the University at Buffalo, a public school governed by the SUNY Board of Trustees, with day to day athletic decisions made by the Director of Athletics.
Who is the current Buffalo Bulls baseball head coach?
There is not one. The position was eliminated when the program was discontinued after the 2017 season. Ron Torgalski, who led the team from 2007 to 2017, was the final head coach.
How was Buffalo Bulls baseball funded before it was cut?
Like other UB sports, it ran on a combination of university athletics budget allocation, MAC conference revenue sharing, and limited donor support, all overseen by the athletics department under the university president and SUNY Board of Trustees.
Is Buffalo Bulls baseball still part of the MAC?
No. Buffalo baseball left the MAC when the sport was discontinued in 2017. UB remains a full MAC member in its other sixteen sports, but baseball is not among them.
I am Jack Neel, a mechanical engineer, researcher, and writer. I created this website to share my knowledge about different brands and products with you. I research the manufacturers behind the brands and provide you with the information you need to make smart buying decisions.