There might be solid arguments against UNCC adding football, but Bill Friday and C.D. Spangler did not make them yesterday. They fail to recognize that the status quo cannot hold and UNCC is going to have to raise student fees to pay for athletics — or pull back its current effort.

The two former UNC system administrators may favor that latter course, but students and alumni manifestly do not. And if they are willing to foot (!) the bill — and pay yet more for football — Friday and Spangler are reduced to carping culture critics.

You know, like the Uptown paper of record’s Mary Schulken. She penned a lamentable column yesterday that made no reference to financial realities UNCC now faces. As I emailed her:

Mary:

I have no axe to grind one way or another, but UNCC is utterly dependent on student fees RIGHT NOW for its athletic programs. About $6m. of the $10m. budget comes from student fees — and that number MUST increase WITH OR WITHOUT football. This is because Judy Rose made a horrible decision and stuck UNCC in the A10 with the expectation that the conference’s NCAA payouts would help fund UNCC athletics by millions each year. Has not happened.

There are now basically two models for UNCC to follow, and both happen to be old Sun Belt conference pals in VCU and UAB. UAB spends about $6m. a year on football, gets much of it back, and has an overall athletic budget about twice that of UNCC. VCU does not have football, spends slightly less than UNCC overall, and it is even more dependent on student fees, taking in about $7m. to help fund a $9m. operating budget.

Those are the choices, although I suppose UNCC could opt to de-emphasize athletics and compete against UNC-Asheville, UNC-G, etc. Let me also add that Phil Dubois is barking up the wrong tree if he thinks local businesses will fill in the funding gap. It does not work that way, anywhere. It is alumni and alumni alone who support the programs, to the extent they are supported.

Fiddle with the Indy Star db for yourself — you’ll quickly find that athletics vs. academics does not begin to capture all the relationships in play.

Later,
JAT
UNC ’87
meckdeck.com

Let’s see what happens next.