Sports Editor
Last April, a vote to increase the Intercollegiate Athletics fee to potentially bring back football to UTA took place over two days. Over a year later, the fee has seen no public advancement.
Former UTA football players camped outside the University Center over two days to engage with the students and educate them on the positive effects a football team can have on a campus. Their campaigning paid off. The vote, which would increase the fee up to $250 a semester, passed 1,004-625.
The current athletics fee for students is $8.50 per credit hour, with a maximum of $115 per semester. Resolution 22-21, “Once and For All, Football,” which is non-binding, asked students to approve an increase to $18.50 per credit hour, or up to $250 a semester, to fund a football team and the expansion of women’s sports teams to comply with Title IX regulations.
A binding referendum has the president’s prior approval before it reaches the ballot, while a non-binding referendum is more of a recommendation by the student body, said John Hillas, assistant director for Student Governance, in an email.
For example, the New UC referendum that passed earlier this month was binding. The referendum took a similar approach to the football vote — going through Student Government’s chambers, appearing on a two-day ballot, and passing with a similar number of ‘yes’ votes.
The administration will present the UC project to the Board of Regents for approval in May, a step that must take place for any fee increase to become official.
“The results of the referendum during spring 2023 were simply to poll the student body on their feeling toward an increased fee if it were to go toward the re-establishment of football, but the university did not commit in advance to implementing the results of that referendum,” Hillas said in an email.
University spokesman Joe Carpenter, responding to a request for comment from The Shorthorn, reiterated a university statement from February.
“The university appreciates and considers student input on this issue,” the statement reads. “This year, UTA held flat both undergraduate tuition and student fees as part of the state’s affordability plan. The university continues to focus on the excellence and competitiveness of its existing teams.”
Student Body President Daniela Pedraja was a student government member when the football referendum was put on the ballot. She said she believes the university is open to the conversation of bringing a football team back, but she also appreciates the challenges it may bring.
“I think that it is definitely a challenge, and it’s recognized by both the students and the leadership of the university that it is no easy feat to bring football to campus,” Pedraja said. “But I know that they are definitely open to it and are willing to. It’s just a matter of really ironing out those details of how it could happen.”
The Shorthorn examined previous feasibility studies done for UTA and interviewed an official from another university about its football journey.
How much does it cost to have a football team?
This is often asked by proponents and opponents of a football team at UTA. Over the years, there have been multiple feasibility studies ordered by university administrations to try and answer that question.
To add a football team, the university must also add women’s sports as well to comply with Title IX obligations. A 2015 study for UTA obtained by The Shorthorn found that adding a football team, women’s sports and stadium improvements would cost over $133 million over 10 years.
A 2020 study for UTA obtained by The Shorthorn put football operating expenses between $3.1 million and $4.7 million annually.
The 2020 study clarified that the annual estimated cost does not include the construction of a new football stadium. The study estimates it would cost about $11 million to build a stadium.
How other schools have built a football team
The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, like UTA, currently has no football team. However, their students voted in 2021 in a binding referendum election to increase their student fees by $11.25 per credit hour to bring a football team to their campus.
When UTRGV voted to approve a football team, its 2017 feasibility study showed that it would cost between $3.1 million and $4.7 million annually for a team.
The school is expected to field a team by the 2025 season. Jonah Goldberg, UTRGV senior associate athletics director for communications and championships, said the fee alone was not enough to fund a team, but it gave the department enough to get started.
Goldberg said the university then received private support to complete the funding for its football team. He started working with UTRGV in 2011, well before the football fee came to a vote, and said a university needs buy-in from everyone, from the president down to the athletics department.
“You had to have everybody on board, the president, all the vice presidents, everybody had to be rowing in the same direction,” Goldberg said. “I think that’s something we’re fortunate here at UTRGV where everybody is rowing in the same direction.”
The university also needed local community support. UTRGV did not build a new stadium for its football team; instead, it announced the purchase of a local field — H-E-B Park in Edinburg, former home of the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros of the United Soccer League. The team ceased operations in 2023.
The fee also only went into effect for new students at UTRGV, Goldberg said. Students who voted for the fee increase did not see their tuition raised.
Goldberg said he estimates the operating costs of a football team would be roughly $6 million a year, though that doesn’t include the startup costs of a program. This number came with the estimate of $30,000 in scholarships for 63 football players — the FCS limit — salaries for 11 football coaches, support staff and travel costs.
Former football players weigh in
For UTA alumnus Gerry Mecca, the push to bring the sport back on campus has turned into a lifelong passion.
The university held a reunion in February for the players, and it gave them a place to mingle. It also presented former players with an opportunity to face the athletics department and voice their frustration. A players-only meeting before the reunion officially began turned contentious as players spoke their minds, Mecca said.
Some players Mecca talked to said they would not step foot on campus until the university restored football.
Reunions like February’s aid the university in getting on more solid footing with former players and help repair relations with some of their alumni, Mecca said. He feels there is momentum this time for the revival of a team and he’s had productive conversations with people in the Athletics department.
“I would say it would be unfair to suggest we haven’t moved forward,” Mecca said. “It’s just moving slowly.”
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