Coaches and athletic directors have lost their jobs, schools have lost a bit of their athletic luster, and fans have lost hope that their upcoming season will bear fruit.
The star has been a tireless promoter for Iron Man, crossing the globe to dazzle fans at premieres and even showing up at a screening full of Police Athletic League kids.
Fans from the mid-1980s will undoubtedly recall Dwayne McClain, an athletic forward from Villanova who scored 17 points in the 1985 title game to lead his team to a memorable 66-64 upset of Georgetown.
Stanford fans have clearly been motivated recently to support their team, as cash donations to the athletic program have increased 53.4 percent and new gifts and pledges have increased by 215.1 percent in the last five years.
Although the Shockers have a beautiful home arena and robust support from fans and donors in Kansas' largest city, coach Gregg Marshall acknowledged that Wichita State's athletic budget is a fraction of what a BCS school can spend.
Grays Athletic also put out a "snow clearing" appeal ahead of their game with York - asking if any fans have "a small tractor or a quad bike" the club could borrow, before eventually declaring at 1300 GMT that the game would go ahead - but then announcing 15 minutes later that it had been called off.