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UNC Charlotte chancellor wants football
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Published: September 19, 2008
CHARLOTTE - UNC Charlotte wants to be the next South Florida.
For years, UNCC remained largely a basketball school as enrollment soared. But yesterday, Chancellor Philip Dubois recommended to the board of trustees that the school form a football program to start play in 2013.
With the goal of beginning in the lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision and eventually moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision, Athletics Director Judy Rose dreams of following South Florida's path. A decade after forming a team, South Florida is ranked No. 12 this week in The Associated Press' Top 25 poll.
"The South Florida model has always been intriguing to me," Rose said. "How they did it and how they were successful. They started off with trailers on their campus. The one thing that's different from us is they have a stadium to play in."
And that will be the biggest obstacle if the board of trustees approves Dubois' proposal Nov. 13.
Unlike South Florida, which plays at the publicly owned Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., playing in the Carolina Panthers' stadium seems unlikely. The team owns Bank of America Stadium, and Dubois said he believes that the Panthers are wary about wear and tear on the field.
In order to build an expandable 12,000-seat on-campus stadium suitable for FCS play, the school must raise $45 million from corporate and alumni donations and personal-seat licenses.
"The most important thing for me is, what would be in the best long-term interest of the university and what would help us achieve our strategic objectives," Dubois said. "What would be difficult about this -- the cost."
Dubois spent nearly two years studying the feasibility of adding football at UNCC, which plays in the non-football Atlantic 10 Conference. Dubois broke from a committee's recommendation calling for a steep increase in student fees and for the school to begin play in the Football Bowl Subdivision by 2016.
To lessen the jump in fees for students to pay for scholarships and coaches' salaries, Dubois left open when a transition would be made to the FBS, which would require a larger stadium and probably a move to a football-playing conference. Dubois also plans to stagger the addition of women's lacrosse, field hockey and swimming to meet federal Title IX requirements.
There were few dissenting opinions expressed in yesterday's board meeting. The school has discussed adding football for years to boost school spirit and perhaps attract additional funding and support from the Charlotte metropolitan area, which often ignores the 49ers for the higher-profile ACC teams.
"We are deep believers in the fact that we will be a university of 35,000 students," board chairwoman Ruth Shaw said. "We want the best for a comprehensive, competitive North Carolina research university."
Raising money for the stadium will not be easy as the economy suffers. Charlotte's growth has been built on its banks, but Bank of America and Wachovia have suffered major losses in the past quarter because of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. UNCC will also be in competition with the Panthers, the Charlotte Bobcats and NASCAR for sponsorship dollars.
"We simply need the community to step up with some ideas about possible partnerships about addressing the capital needs of this or this isn't even going to happen," Dubois said.
So the school faces a big hurdle before it can begin the first step in following South Florida's path to becoming a major player on fall Saturdays.
"I'm the optimist," Rose said. "I take this as a challenge, and we're going to get this done."
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