UNCC Football Faces Delays
Statement of Chancellor Philip L. Dubois
Concerning His Recommendation for Initiation of an
Intercollegiate Football Program at UNC Charlotte
November 13, 2008
Chair Shaw and Members of the Board:
On September 18, I recommended to you that UNC Charlotte
begin an intercollegiate football program in the fall of 2013 by applying
for entry into the Football Championship Subdivision of the NCAA
(formerly known as Division I-AA). In the two months that have passed
since I made that recommendation, I have not changed my mind.
Because we have discussed this issue in some detail, I will not
review the reasons for my recommendation once again. However, let
me highlight some of the pertinent details.
Initiation of a football program would require the assessment of a
student fee beginning in the fall of 2010. It is my proposal that the fee
begin initially at $25 per semester for the 2010-2011 academic year, be
increased to $50 per semester for each of the next two years, and then be
increased to $100 per semester (or $200 per year) in the first year of
competition (2013-2014).
Of course, these fees would be approved by this Board and by the
Board of Governors on an annual basis through our established process
for the approval of tuition and fees. As I mentioned last time, it is not
expected that these fees would require any exception to the so-called
“fee cap” prescribed by the Board of Governors’ fee policy.
A second major consideration in my recommendation is that we
will need to find a solution to the problem of funding the total cost of
facilities we will require. As we discussed in September, we estimate
the total cost of those facilities to be approximately $45.3 million, the
largest components of which include a sports building of just over $20
million and an on-campus stadium of almost $21 million.
There is no meaningful alternative to the sports building which will
house offices for coaches, training facilities, and academic and
administrative support. But there is an alternative to an on-campus
stadium, and we have initiated productive conversations with county
administrative officials about whether a lower-cost investment in a
renovation of Memorial Stadium might give UNC Charlotte a place to
play for the first few years of its football future. That partnership could
conceivably involve Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as it considers the
creation of a Second Ward high school.
As we move forward with our capital fundraising for football, we
will pursue both the on-campus option and the Memorial Stadium option
and have indicated to the county administration that we wish to maintain
the flexibility to move in either direction depending upon how our
fundraising proceeds.
With respect to that fundraising, I will mention again my
recommendation that an important component of our plan ought to be an
insistence that there be broad grassroots participation in the support of
any football program that we might start. I said it in September and I’ll
say it in November--those who say they want football are going to have
to help pay for football.
Athletic Director Judy Rose is prepared to have our colleagues
from Luquire George Andrews talk with you about a marketing plan for
the idea I presented in September about the sale of Forty-Niner Seat
Licenses (or FSLs). At that time, I suggested these might be sold for
$1,000 and that we sell 5,000 of these licenses within 6 months in order
to move forward.
Well, I’m pleased to tell you that, since the time of that
announcement, we have had expressions of interest for more than 4,000
of these seat licenses. And this has occurred without any marketing
whatever, particularly to our core audience of 49er Club members. I’ll
leave it to Judy to tell you a little bit more about this later.
We have also sought and received professional advice that
suggests we may want to refine our thinking about the pricing,
transferability, and other details of the seat license program. We still
need several weeks to work out those details and the detailed legal
contracts that are required to sell seat licenses. But the general concept
is still sound. Assuming we announce sometime in January the formal
availability for sale of FSLs, we should sell 5,000 seat licenses by June
30 in order to move forward with our decision to have intercollegiate
football at UNC Charlotte. Even in this challenging economic
environment, I believe this is achievable.
Even with a successful FSL program, it is important to remember
that this would generate only a small proportion of the $45.3 million we
will need. I believe it would be prudent for the Board to ask me to
report periodically on our fundraising progress, of course. Certainly we
need to make significant progress by the fall of 2010, knowing that we
have to have the sports complex in place by the fall of 2012.
Finally, as you will recall, my recommendation included a phased
approach with respect to our obligations under Title IX, beginning with
women’s lacrosse in 2016, field hockey in 2019, and a third sport in
2023. My proposal would also defer implementation of a marching
band program for three or four years depending upon budget conditions.
May 29, 2009
When UNCC announced last November that it would move forward on bringing a football program to campus, a lot of people were excited, but it turns out that excitement hasn’t translated into dollars.
The sale of seat licenses for the games has not gone well. A lot of people who initially signed up haven’t paid for them. Because of the economy, it’s likely a fundraiser to raise millions for the team will be tough.
To get past the problems, Athletic Director Judy Rose said the chancellor’s “plan B” involves delaying football’s kickoff beyond the original plan of 2013.
Because of the fund-raising issues, Dubois added an additional 4 options - Plans C, D, E and F - several of the plans delayed the start of the football program. Ultimately, 'Plan E' was the ticket. The proposed $50 initial student fee (growing to $200 in 2013) will be 'subsidized' by an additional $120 'debt service fee' (meaning $320 increase in student fees in 2013) to borrow $40m to build football facilities and begin play in 2013.
Before the football stuff -- UNCC's fees: $445 per student
What seems to be missing: An estimated $4-6 million in funding to replace the intramural fields upon which the football facilities will be constructed.
Not saying you're right or wrong just curious why you say that.
) for funzies.
