Utsa To D1a?

DeepGreen · September 13, 2007

UTSA moving to D1 is back in the news with a student referendum to increase athletic fees per semester from $120 max to $240 max. Pretty ambicious conference affiliations should they have football in 10 years.

UTSA

MeanMag · September 13, 2007

didn't a new reg. just make it harder to make the move up?

September 13, 2007

First of all, it would have to be Division 1-AA (they're calling it the Championship something or other but I'm not buying it) since they're in the Southland Conference.

They might succeed in starting a football team but where will they play? They'll have to build a stadium as well.

One big thing that they have going for them is that San Antonio, a city of one million people, has no Division 1 football and no professional football team for competition other than being the training facility for the Cowboys.

September 13, 2007

didn't a new reg. just make it harder to make the move up?

UTSA is already Division 1 so the only way up would be to 1-A (Bowl). Yes, the NCAA closed the door behind Western Kentucky for three years before they'll even reconsider anyone else.

I don't know for sure who might want to move up at the end of the moratorium but if it's an established team such as Montana, Delaware, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Texas State, etc. I'd think that a newbie would probably have to go to the end of the line.

runt96 · September 13, 2007

First of all, it would have to be Division 1-AA (they're calling it the Championship something or other but I'm not buying it) since they're in the Southland Conference.
They might succeed in starting a football team but where will they play? They'll have to build a stadium as well.
One big thing that they have going for them is that San Antonio, a city of one million people, has no Division 1 football and no professional football team for competition other than being the training facility for the Cowboys.

The Alamodome was at the top of their page.

eulesseagle · September 13, 2007

Trying to logically figure out what the NCAA is going to do is like trying to figure out a woman in menapause.

Examples include the schools who get to keep indian names and NCAA sanctioned penalties for rules violations.

Nothing that the NCAA does makes any logical sense to its members. We would all like to know who the "Don King" of the NCAA rules committee is.

buff64 · September 13, 2007

UTSA moving to D1 is back in the news with a student referendum to increase athletic fees per semester from $120 max to $240 max. Pretty ambicious conference affiliations should they have football in 10 years.
UTSA

UTSA is already DI in all the sports in which they participate . Was this referendum to add football ?

Arkstfan · September 13, 2007

UTSA is Division I.

If they add football it would automatically be FCS unless they wanted to move to FBS and could meet the criteria.

There is a freeze on schools moving from FCS to FBS until 2011 which wouldn't have any real impact UTSA because they would be unlikely to play their first game before 2009.

I suspect that the NCAA power brokers are trying to figure out how to make it even harder to go from FCS to FBS without making it so bad that teams get knocked down and new rules will be in place come 2011.

September 13, 2007

The Alamodome was at the top of their page.

The Alamodome is ten or more miles from their campus and would not come cheap.

GreenN'walinsVet · September 13, 2007

The Alamodome is ten or more miles from their campus and would not come cheap.

I wouldn't say that the alamodome would be expensive for UTSA. It's not like their is any thing else going on in there very often, so I would imagine that the city of San Antonio would let UTSA use the facility for not much more then routine expenses.

SAGreenFan · September 13, 2007

The Alamodome was at the top of their page.

The Alamodome is in the center of down town San Antonio and UTSA is almost 20 miles away on the far northwest side, almost out of the city itself... The distance, price, and if anyones been to San Antonio lately, the highway construction makes the Alamodome seem pretty impractical. I know they've been trying to pass football for a while now. Maybe they finally got it done. They have the room for a stadium on their campus, and can probably get the funding since the only other college football teams in town are Trinity's club team and once their program is up and running, Incarnate Word.

SCREAMING EAGLE-66 · September 13, 2007

---Since San Antonio has no I-A or pro-football and is one the largest cities in America I would think they would be excited about having a football program and would work with them and charge very little more than expenses. Some profit is better than an empty building anyway plus it is an opportunity to advertise San Antonio to America especially with the UT-SAN ANTONIO name. .

I doubt the fact the fact that the Alamo Dome is ten miles away means much. Smu played in the Cotton bowl for decades. Miami and Southern Cal (also in large cities) don't play on campus either

Arkstfan · September 13, 2007

You'd think a start-up would use Alamo Stadium. It's dumpish but has around 23,000 seats.

Shof · September 13, 2007

You'd think a start-up would use Alamo Stadium. It's dumpish but has around 23,000 seats.

I thought the same. Think its more like 20K. Local paper indicated the "vote result" was to be released on Friday (9/14). I know part of the resolution was to spruce up ALL of the athletic facilities to make them competitive with similar universities. I'm hoping the fee doesn't kick in until next fall (my daughter graduates next May). :rolleyes:

greenjoe · September 13, 2007

Don't forget St. Mary's University The original SMU.

ADLER · September 13, 2007

I like the "a student referendum to increase athletic fees per semester from $120 max to $240 max".

If North Texas were to do that we'd have a 16 Million budget before any tickets were sold, a single donation was accepted, or any games scheduled. No more need to schedule "money games" and we'd be in charge of our own destiny. Greatness could be achieved.

FIU and FAU have enrollment figures similar to North Texas and have large student contribution rates like UTSA. Budgets like that made USF and UCF competitive within a few years of initiating football. USF has already been accepted by a BCS conference and UCF has built a beautiful new stadium. No longer are those universities thought of as small-time schools.

There is real value in those investments in athletics. It's the window through which the rest of the world views the college.

I hope Dr. B is aware of the steps that other schools are taking to become competitive. Hopefully she can help guide North Texas to do the same.

Stan R · September 13, 2007

AMEN BROTHA!

PlummMeanGreen · September 13, 2007

I like the "a student referendum to increase athletic fees per semester from $120 max to $240 max".
If North Texas were to do that we'd have a 16 Million budget before any tickets were sold, a single donation was accepted, or any games scheduled. No more need to schedule "money games" and we'd be in charge of our own destiny. Greatness could be achieved.
FIU and FAU have enrollment figures similar to North Texas and have large student contribution rates like UTSA. Budgets like that made USF and UCF competitive within a few years of initiating football. USF has already been accepted by a BCS conference and UCF has built a beautiful new stadium. No longer are those universities thought of as small-time schools.
There is real value in those investments in athletics. It's the window through which the rest of the world views the college.
I hope Dr. B is aware of the steps that other schools are taking to become competitive. Hopefully she can help guide North Texas to do the same.

You be preachin' to the choir, brutha'! :thumbsup:

Mo Green · September 13, 2007

Their stadium would be the con-dome. Red McCombs et al would love to bring football to this city.

The tax payers are taking it in the pants with the dome losing money hand over foot......so they need someone to play in the dome. That's why the mayor likes football to come to SA!

Or we can put dog shows in there like I want.....sorry no pit bulls. Errrr, maybe bull fights, displaced New Orleanians?

NT80 · September 14, 2007

UTSA athletic fee passes:

http://www.utsa.edu/today/2007/09/athleticsfee.cfm

buff64 · September 14, 2007

Incarnate Word University in San Antonio is in the process of adding football to their program. It will be DII and hopes in join the Lone Star Conference. The program is largely funded by Tom Benson ( owner of the Saints ) he has already donated several million $ for the program including a new stadium.