Xavier discontinued its participation in intercollegiate football following the 1973 season, citing the escalating cost of the sport and resulting deficits.
[4] From the 1920s through the 1960s, Xavier scheduled regional and national opponents, including Haskell (1919–1920, 1922–1934), Kentucky (1935–1942, 1946–1949, 1956–1962), Marshall (1926, 1938–1940, 1942, 1946–1947, 1949, 1955–1958, 1961–1962, 1967–1968, 1971–1973), Louisville (1926, 1948–1953, 1955–1956, 1959–1962), Villanova (1952–1953, 1959–1960, 1962–1969), Detroit (1936, 1957–1964), Boston College (1952–1955), Loyola (1930–1933), UTEP (1963, 1965, 1969), Navy (1922–1923), and South Carolina (1936, 1938).
On December 19, 1973, the Xavier University Board of Trustees voted 15 to 3 to discontinue the school's intercollegiate football program, effective immediately.
Robert W. Mulligan, attributed the decision to the "spiraling costs of intercollegiate football" which had led to a $200,000 deficit in 1973 despite the team having its most successful season in five years.
[6] The Musketeers played their games in Corcoran Stadium, which opened in 1929 after a $300,000 fundraising drive led by future Governor of Ohio Myers Y. Cooper.