FGCU would need about $100 million to start football
Editor's note: This story ran in The News-Press on April 20, 2011.
In case January's feasibility study wasn't clear enough, FGCU president Wilson Bradshaw on Tuesday removed any sliver of doubt.
FGCU is not ready for football.
Meeting with the school's board of trustees after reviewing the 190-page report first presented to the board and school officials three months ago, Bradshaw said FGCU's enrollment is too small and the costs of adding football too great for the school to consider the move.
"I have said in the past and I will say it going forward - I believe that Florida Gulf Coast University will have football," Bradshaw said. "I don't believe now is the time."
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FGCU shouldn't consider adding football until the school's enrollment of about 12,000 reaches 18,000 to 20,000, Bradshaw said. That won't be for at least five years, based on enrollment projections.
FGCU will need $90 million for a 15,000-seat football stadium and $5.9 million annually in scholarship costs for football and the additional women's sports needed to maintain gender-equity, according to the report from Carr Sports Associates, Inc.
FGCU would need 100 acres for an off-campus stadium, the report said.
More pressing for FGCU, which has an annual athletics budget of $7.1 million, is bolstering ticket sales, donors and other fundraising to keep the school's 14 sports competitive in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
FGCU's sports budget is expected to increase to $9.4 million next year, Bradshaw said.
"That's without football," he said.
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FGCU - which draws 78 percent of its athletics funding from student fees, second-highest of Florida's 11 state schools - also needs more money for the addition of men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field for 2013-2014.
Adding those sports was a condition of joining the A-Sun in 2007-2008.
"It's no surprise," longtime booster Diana Willis of Jason's Deli said of football's indefinite timetable. "I think that we're all thrilled with the growth that's already happened at FGCU. As long as they continue to expand with quality academic programs, athletics is always going to be a part of that growth."
Based on the university's recommendation to look at starting in the Football Championship Subdivision as opposed to the Football Bowl Subdivision, Carr's feasibility report projects losses of $4.8 million each season.
According to a 2008 NCAA report, only four of 118 FCS teams had positive cash flow in 2004-2006.
"We're all hopeful that we get something like that in our area," Willis said in praising the patient approach. "You can't bite off more than you can chew."
A popular T-shirt sported by students states "FGCU Football: Still Undefeated." Freshman David Sturm, 18, says it's OK that it stays that way for a while. The biology major from New Jersey said football simply costs too much money for a university with a shoestring budget.
"It would be sweet, but with this being a new school, it's not really reasonable," added Kody Shields, an 18-year-old freshman business major from Chicago who believes football games could draw more than just football fans.
"I feel like football is the one sport everybody would watch, even if they just came for the tailgating."
MORE SPORTS: FGCU sports coverage in The News-Press
Behind the numbers
- $90 million: Cost of building 15,000-seat stadium
- $5.9 million: Annual expenses to add football and additional women's sports
- $7.1 million: FGCU's 2010-2011 athletic budget
- $9.4 million: FGCU projected 2011-2012 athletic budget