Tuesday, December 15, 2009

UNCC decides to add football

The trustees at the University of North Carolina Charlotte have decided to go forward with the plan to add a football team. The team will make its debut in 2013.
This is also a good time to mention that Hofstra University cut its team last week, shortly after Northeastern University announced it was cutting its team due to the expenses associated with the team and the inability to properly upgrade facilities.
And in the wake of these two announcements there was a fair amount of desperate "football is dying" talk.
But it seems UNCC has granted some people's holiday wishes and brought peace on earth to football-loving folks.
It will not be a cheap endeavor, however. The stadium will cost $40.5 million and the student body is slated to bear most of the financial burden with fees predicted to be raised by $320 over the course of the next few years. This number could go down, according to the Chancellor, if private donations increase. Of course, by this logic, they could also go up if donations go down. I mean they say the recession is over, but...
It was not an uncontroversial decision as you might imagine--especially because of the above-mentioned economic uncertainty. But it had many proponents as well.
The decision is not final final yet. It has to be approved by the Board of Governors in February.