VOTE FOR FOOTBALL!!!

Charlotte 49er Football šŸˆ
21

[QUOTE=Sublemon;192779]Prior to voting ā€œyes,ā€ I have a question. Iā€™ve heard reports of financial commitments and pledges that seem substantial. How much money is actually committed (beyond verbal) and sitting in the development office? Itā€™s great to get committments, but how much of that has actually been translated into cash gifts to the university?[/QUOTE]

The university will not accept cash gifts for football only at this time, so people can not give it. I believe at least 90% of the $300,000 start up and $150,000 yearly funds would actaully be collected. I have not recieved any pledges to date that were unreasonable or unlikely to be fullfilled. I have have recieved many pledges for people who say they refuse to give anything to the school until they get a football team.

[QUOTE=MKNiner;192793]
What Iā€™d like to see is the administration actually respond to questions with something other than what they have. We never get specifics, just vague answers. I want to know

  1. Has this issue been seriously discussed since the supposed study pre-9/11?[/QUOTE]

No.

[QUOTE]2. It is a fact that our conference affiliation for the rest of our teams will suffer without football, and thus our teamā€™s ability to be competitive. Is the adminstrationā€™s complete lack of effort with regard to football not an acceptance of conference mediocrity and mid-major status for the rest of our teams? Why is that even acceptable to anyone who has the schoolā€™s best interests at heart?[/QUOTE]

That is a great question and this will be one of the biggest factors leading us to football. Judy and others have spent a tremedous amount of resources and money to make sure we are competitive in every sport we compete it. If you look at all sports across the board our success has been remarkable, but we are at a huge crossroads especially when it come to basketball.

While in Conference USA it could very easily be argued that we were one to the top 25 to 30 basketball programs in the country. When the conferences re-aligned the A-10 was our best and really only option because the lack of a football program. The A-10 went from a strong basketball conference before our arrival with 3 to 4 bids to the NCAAs regularly to a 1 or 2 bid league. Obviously this can and will change from year to year, but what is the conference were to saty in a funk??? This season is arguably the worst home schedule in the history of the school. What is this kind of schedule becomes the norm?? We cannot afford to allow our biggest asset (Basketball) to erode to the point where 4,000 is our average attendence and we get excited about having 7,000.

Realignment will be coming again and if we donā€™t have football we have no control over our destiny and the result could be very frightening.

[QUOTE]3. Given the willingness this adminstration seems to have to let our teams suffer why not come out and admit that where we are is where we will stay and that there is no intention to try and improve the situation?[/QUOTE]

Phil does see and fear the erosion of basketball and hopefully this will lead him to act. If he doesnā€™t I hope history will show that he alone it responsible for our demise.

[QUOTE]4. How can you justify a school the size of UNCP being able to put together a football team and then come back and tell people itā€™s not feasible for Charlotte? Is it really this administrationā€™s belief that UNCP gets more people to their basketball games than we do?[/QUOTE]
One thing to keep in mind is UNCP is creating football will no regard to Title 9. This is something we cannot do and they shouldnā€™t be able to do. But the fact is id UNCP can have football we can. A better example is App St. and ECU, if they can do it, there is absolutely no legitimate reason why we canā€™t.

[QUOTE]This whole process just irritates me. I want real answers and I believe weā€™re entitled to them[/QUOTE]
Your absolutely right!!

As far as dollar amounts, If the Athletic dept got $200 a year from every student, we would have football. That would provide the funding need for a 1-AA prgram and then we would see what happens from there.

22

[QUOTE=MKNiner;192824]I disagree totally. I-AA is perfect for us and we would move to DI when the time was right, be that 5 years or 15. There are very, very successful football programs, many in our state, that are I-AA and fans flock to see their games.

Iā€™m not sure where you get the idea that ā€œmostā€ would be crying for a D1 program. If weā€™re not successful at 1-AA why would there be an outcry for D1? You can still play D1 schools as 1-AA in pay games, but I donā€™t believe for a second that ā€œmostā€ would cry out for D1 if we didnā€™t even have a successful 1-AA team for the same reason that ā€œmostā€ wouldnā€™t cry out for us to play the tar holes or Duke in basketball if we were a terrible team. Peopleā€™s cry for greater recognition and quality opponents stems from success, not failure.

I seriously doubt it. Itā€™s one in a long line of excuses this adminstration hands out as justification for not even pursuing it. The Chancellor, intentionally or not, is putting an unrealistic stipulation as a prerequisite for starting in the first place.

We could be very successful, with very happy fans, with a I-AA that was successful. And we donā€™t need D1 funds to do it.[/QUOTE]

Iā€™m with you MK, but Iā€™m not sure the majority of football supporters would be happy playing I-AA for a prolonged period. More importantly, I donā€™t know that they would support it financially after the kickoff funding party ended. I hope that I am wrong. With the current state if I-A football, I would just assume stay at I-AA until a real national championship was established for I-A. Since Chancellor Duboisā€™ former school played I-A, that may be the only level he wants to play at. I donā€™t know if thatā€™s our athletic administrationā€™s position or not. Also, the ones on here that cry to be in the Big East are not going to be content playing at the I-AA level for more than the time the NCAA makes us. They will want to expeditiously get to I-A, whatever the cost, after we start football.

23

GREAT POINTS JIM

The thing i disagree with though is that we are not at a crossroads, we missed the exit 2 years ago. And now we are paying for it. Are there more exits, I hope so.

The one that irritates me is that, it isnā€™t getting any cheaper, 10 years ago this would have cost a third what it does now. We may be in the big east, a better football conference than the ACC this year.

Also Phil wonā€™t be the only one set with our demise, woodward will be too. He did nothing for football, and cared NOTHING about it.

24

"4. How can you justify a school the size of UNCP being able to put together a football team and then come back and tell people itā€™s not feasible for Charlotte? Is it really this administrationā€™s belief that UNCP gets more people to their basketball games than we do?

This whole process just irritates me. I want real answers and I believe weā€™re entitled to them."

Weā€™re not entitled to anything regarding answers about football. You chose the university with fulll knowledge that it did not have a football team. That aside, Iā€™m not sure if you can justify UNCP having football. Would you go watch them?

2007 UNCP FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
[LEFT][CENTER]Date[/CENTER]
[/LEFT]
[CENTER]Opponent
[COLOR=#ffff00][B]Location[/B][/COLOR]
[B][COLOR=#ffff00]Time/Result[/COLOR][/B]
09-01-07
at Davidson
Davidson, NC
TBA
09-08-07
GREENSBORO
PEMBROKE
1:00 pm
09-15-07

  • WINGATE
    PEMBROKE
    1:00 pm
    09-22-07
    at Jacksonville
    Jacksonville, FL
    TBA
    09-29-07
    at Chowan
    Murfreesboro, NC
    TBA
    10-06-07
    BREVARD (HOMECOMING)
    PEMBROKE
    2:00 pm
    10-13-07
    WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN
    PEMBROKE
    1:00 pm
    10-20-07
    at Edward Waters
    Jacksonville, FL
    TBA
    10-27-07
    FAULKNER
    PEMBROKE
    1:00 pm
    11-03-07
    at Concord
    Athens, WV
    TBA
    11-10-07
    at North Greenville
    Tigersville, SC
    TBA[/CENTER]
25
I'm with you MK, but I'm not sure the majority of football supporters would be happy playing I-AA for a prolonged period. More importantly, I don't know that they would support it financially after the kickoff funding party ended.

Thatā€™s a valid concern.

One thing that would give me pause playing I-AA for an extended period is that it wouldnā€™t help us with conference alignment unless we committed to play D1 within a certain time of joining another conference (i.e. Big East)

26
We're not entitled to anything regarding answers about football. You chose the university with fulll knowledge that it did not have a football team.

The hell weā€™re not.

My money and my support go to UNC Charlotte. Granted itā€™s not a lot by some standards, but I give what I can and support this university in every way.

I did choose Charlotte knowing it didnā€™t have a football team and that has exactly nothing to do with the present discussion. I didnā€™t make it a condition of my attending there that they get one. However the time is now for getting one or else weā€™re going to be left without a chair when the music stops. T

The fact that I give money and support to this school entitles me to answers regarding itā€™s future. It doesnā€™t entitle me to have them do what I think is best, but it does entitle me to answers.

27
We're not entitled to anything regarding answers about football. You chose the university with fulll knowledge that it did not have a football team.

I chose a school that was in conference USA with Louisville, Cincy, a then good Marquette, Memphis, Depaul. What i get now is garbage. I am entitled to know if the University wants to get out of the dumpster before i go to donate anymore of my money. I want whats best for the school, but if they donā€™t want whats best then well I am done. <-that is also the opinion of many alumni, and that is the opinion of those who wonā€™t donate until we get football. I will be paying student loans for the next 10 years, i am a member of the 49er Club and go to nearly every home game. I am entitled to something, I think getting an honest answer is the least we could get.

28
It doesn't cost near as much to run a DII or DIII program as it does to run an I-AA or D1 program.

Actually, if it is student fees you are concerned about, it might cost about the same.

HP said in the other thread that there are restrictions on how student fees can be spent with football. Unfortunately, this means donations will have to increase dramatically to fund scholarships at the appropriate level if we ever want to move up to a Div 1A program.

But student fees would be increased and spent on football expenses that would apply at any level - Division III through 1A. Equipment wonā€™t cost any differently, the facilities required will basically be the same, etc. etc.

29
I disagree totally. I-AA is perfect for us and we would move to DI when the time was right, be that 5 years or 15. There are very, very successful football programs, many in our state, that are I-AA and fans flock to see their games.

Iā€™m not sure where you get the idea that ā€œmostā€ would be crying for a D1 program. If weā€™re not successful at 1-AA why would there be an outcry for D1? You can still play D1 schools as 1-AA in pay games, but I donā€™t believe for a second that ā€œmostā€ would cry out for D1 if we didnā€™t even have a successful 1-AA team for the same reason that ā€œmostā€ wouldnā€™t cry out for us to play the tar holes or Duke in basketball if we were a terrible team. Peopleā€™s cry for greater recognition and quality opponents stems from success, not failure.

I seriously doubt it. Itā€™s one in a long line of excuses this adminstration hands out as justification for not even pursuing it. The Chancellor, intentionally or not, is putting an unrealistic stipulation as a prerequisite for starting in the first place.

We could be very successful, with very happy fans, with a I-AA that was successful. And we donā€™t need D1 funds to do it.

Post of the month.

30

[QUOTE=Sublemon;192839]That aside, Iā€™m not sure if you can justify UNCP having football. Would you go watch them?
[/QUOTE]
If their jerseys say Charlotte 49ers, then yes, I will watch them. I say this with 100% certainty, because Iā€™m a season tickets holder for Charlotte 49ers basketball and the quality of schedule for basketball this year is not much better than the listed UNCP schedule.

I want to watch my team play football. I want to hang out with my friends drinking beer while we tailgate wherever we have to tailgate. I want to have a team to pull for during FOOTBALL SEASON - a team that I actually care about, not just a team that Iā€™ve latched onto because my friends pull for them.

31

If App can draw 18,000 and more for their games, so can we.

Unfortunately, thatā€™s not quite as easdy as it used to be. I believe D1-A schools are now only allowed to play one game every 4 years against D1-AA teams. Actually, I think they play more than 1 in 4 years, but they can only count 1 as a win every 4 years.

Out of curiosity, which had we rather be? Constant national title contenders in D1-AA, or the next Temple in D1-A?

32

[QUOTE=Over40NINER;192935]Out of curiosity, which had we rather be? Constant national title contenders in D1-AA, or the next Temple in D1-A?[/QUOTE]
Contenders! Letā€™s win it all! :49ers:

33

[QUOTE=Over40NINER;192935]
Out of curiosity, which had we rather be? Constant national title contenders in D1-AA, or the next Temple in D1-A?[/QUOTE]

Thatā€™s an easy answer, but those looking for the quick move to the Big East, CUSA, or Sun Belt for D1 football could care less. Thatā€™s what worries me about having too much ambition for football too quickly (i.e. trying to move up before we are ready in hopes of getting in a bigger conference).

[QUOTE=C49er]ā€¦and the quality of schedule for basketball this year is not much better than the listed UNCP schedule.
[/QUOTE]

Hmmmmm. Home games against Hofstra, Xavier, UMass, St. Joeā€™s, and GW. Road games against Syracuse, Indiana, and Creighton. Those games are nothing to smirk at. If we had a football team, who would we be playing against? Delaware, UMass, James Madison, Towson, Rhode Island, and William & Mary. Though I know those are good I-AA teams, they do not compare to our I-A basketball schedule.

[QUOTE=survivor45]
Actually, if it is student fees you are concerned about, it might cost about the same.

HP said in the other thread that there are restrictions on how student fees can be spent with football. Unfortunately, this means donations will have to increase dramatically to fund scholarships at the appropriate level if we ever want to move up to a Div 1A program.

But student fees would be increased and spent on football expenses that would apply at any level - Division III through 1A. Equipment wonā€™t cost any differently, the facilities required will basically be the same, etc. etc.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]Surveys of students, faculty and alumni indicated about a 70 percent approval rating, and higher in some sectors. Of the 1,100 students surveyed this fall, 91 percent favored establishing a football team. [B]To fund the program, trustees approved a $70 per semester increase in student athletic fees that will raise nearly $500,000 per year at current enrollment levels. A campus committee, comprised of students, faculty and staff, unanimously approved the increased fee[/B].[/QUOTE]

[URL=http://www.peachbelt.com/news/120804uncp.htm][COLOR=gold][U][B]UNCP Trustees Approve the Return of Football[/B][/U][/COLOR][/URL]

A conservative estimate to start an I-AA program is $5 million, and that does not include stadium fees (lease, rent, or construction costs). Raising the student athletic fee to $70 at Charlotte would give us $1.54 million in start-up costs. We still would need another $3.5 million to field a team. Then we still have to worry about the stadium, which wonā€™t be cheap, and would have to be much larger than 2,000 seats. All of that is just for I-AA. Itā€™s obvious from many of the posters that they want to be D-1 NOW!!! For I-A the expense is a lot more. We need to at least have a stadium that will hold 10,000 with room to expand. Playing at the Panthers field may not be an option. Pitt plays at Heinz Field, but the turf later in the year gets trashed. I wonder if the Panthers would let us play there. Memorial Stadium is not a good option, but it may be the most realistic. I donā€™t see the city spending money on it for us to play there, though. I would hope we could have our own stadium, at some capacity, ready when we take the field.

34

ask USF and UAB how they took their time to get to D-1. Not saying that is what will happen, but to set sights high is not unrealistic. I just want football.

35
Memorial Stadium is not a good option, but it may be the most realistic. I don't see the city spending money on it for us to play there, though.
I agree that football stadium costs are typically enormous sums of money and the stadium, above all else, pushes the average expenses for a football program into the range of several million dollars.

Click on the link and scroll down to the bottom of the page. We can take advantage of existing municipal facilities that more rural colleges wish they had. I donā€™t see the city spending money on the university, eitherā€¦but the university will have to spend money on the city for facility rental (but itā€™s really not that much).

Oh - EXCELLENT LINK, X-49er. Thatā€™s a great read. It looked kind of yellow and hard to see for me, but I hope people here click on it.

[I]http://www.charmeck.nc.us/Departments/Park+and+Rec/Facilities/Event+Facilities/Memorial+Stadium.htm

[/I]

36

I donā€™t see why a (small) expansion of the current soccer facility canā€™t be done for I-AA football. There are no attendance/fixed seating requirements for I-AA as far as I know.

37
The 43% that voted for "I would pay any amount necessary" must be spending mommy and daddy's or Uncle Sam's money. :wow: If you're paying your own way for tuition, $400+ per year is a pretty big deal.

if you already pay your own tuition, then you should know 400 dollars a year is like a pin prick of pain compared to the rest of the costs. I have bought books for classes that almost cost 400 each.

In other words, 400 a year is NOTHING, and especially if I have to pull out a loan anyways.

38
It won't let me vote without signing up. $400 a year increase can be steep for those on a tight income. I suggest we start a scholarship fund open to those who pay their own way & are living hand to mouth. I had already brought this up on this board about 4-5 months ago, & I pledged to contribute $200 to it the 1st year. Maybe we could get Alums & Businesses to donate. We could sell sponsorships for the Football Fund Scholarship for Working Students.

I think you really ARE an idiot!

39

[QUOTE=Hollywood;193126]I donā€™t see why a (small) expansion of the current soccer facility canā€™t be done for I-AA football. There are no attendance/fixed seating requirements for I-AA as far as I know.[/QUOTE]

I would rather build another soccer/track facility and make the existing stadium our football studium. Location-wise, you canā€™t beat it. Itā€™s near the SAC, not far from central campus, and the parking for the game would be similar to what it is for the basketball games. We would have more people for football, of course, but the main parking decks would be that much closer to the stadium. Add another parking deck or two near the stadium, and we would be in good shape.

[QUOTE=uncommon-niner] if you already pay your own tuition, then you should know 400 dollars a year is like a pin prick of pain compared to the rest of the costs. I have bought books for classes that almost cost 400 each.

In other words, 400 a year is NOTHING, and especially if I have to pull out a loan anyways.[/QUOTE]

If youā€™re living on or around campus AND paying your own way, then $200 per semester may not seem like that much. When you pay back Uncle Sam, it will seem like something if it amounts to an extra $1600 (or more with interest) when you have to pay it back. For those living at home already trying to cut expenses to attend college, an extra $200 for football is 1/10 of their current tuition+fees. Thatā€™s more than a pin-prick. And, as you say, that could go to buying most of their books for each semester they have to pay that fee. Thatā€™s not something they will look forward to having to work at their part-time job longer to have to pay for.

40

X-49er
I think maybe what uncommon is getting that, or was before, that our costs still wonā€™t be as high as some of the other schools regarded as premier in our states.