UTA Football Vigil - "It's just a matter of time!"

In April 2004, UT Arlington students overwhelmingly voted in favor of reviving NCAA football and beginning Women's Soccer and Golf programs at The University of Texas at Arlington.  Despite this strong mandate, President Spaniolo decided the time was not right.  He felt a higher priority would be to get an arena built to replace Texas Hall as an athletic venue.  He said he wanted to re-examine the issue in five years, which will be in early 2010.  The text of President Spaniolo's announcement from January 20, 2005 was recently removed from the UTA.edu website.

In the world of NCAA Athletics, there are two sources of funding, internal and external.  Internal funding consists of student fees and other money generated within the institution.  External funding consists mainly of gifts from outside the university.  Most of the UTA athletics budget is derived from the student athletics fee, which is driven by the aggregate number of hours "sold" by the university each semester.  The amount of external giving is a reflection of the standing a university has in the community, especially among alumni.  Such is the case at UTA. 

Consistent with other non-football schools, UTA has a relatively negligible level of external athletic gifting occurring.  At schools where football has been introduced, as at Southeastern Louisiana University, external giving has grown rapidly, not just for athletics, but in general.  The cost argument against football thus appears to lack merit, and in fact, as rising tuition costs and stagnant enrollment growth put a ceiling on further internal funding growth, it is possible that football is the best potential future catalyst for external funding growth that could ensure the survival of existing Division 1 athletic teams at UTA.