An A.S. Council-chartered task force is currently
researching one of UCSD’s oldest and most contested student life issues: the
possibility of creating a UCSD football team.
All-Campus Senator Utsav Gupta said he established the
Intercollegiate Football Feasibility Task Force to explore the longstanding
debate among UCSD students. Gupta said the purpose of the task force is not to
argue for or against a football team, but rather to research the potential
costs and benefits of having one.
“I want to take all these arguments, pro and con, and form
one prime document that can be used for either side,” Gupta said.
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The task force will research issues including financial
costs, the potential team’s impact on the UCSD academic scene, opinions of the
administration and student body and how a team’s presence would affect Title
IX, which mandates that schools provide equal athletic opportunities to men and
women. The task force will also look at the progress of universities that have
recently founded football teams, such as UC Davis, and examine more established
football teams at other universities.
Gupta said one of the biggest issues the task force will
explore is how a football team would be financially supported, with possible
funds coming from alumni contributions or the university. Other key issues
under consideration by the task force include where a future team would practice
and what stadium it would use for games.
The task force, whose research is still in the early stages,
hopes to release its findings by fifth week of Spring Quarter.
UCSD had a football team for one winless season in 1968, but
it was discontinued because of the Vietnam War draft.
Since then, Gupta said, there have been three referendums to
reintroduce football to UCSD, all of which failed. The task force will also
examine why these referendums were not successful.
“I just see this as a way of opening up the debate,” Gupta
said. “It’s the first little baby step to see if UCSD wants to have a football
team.”
If the task force discovers substantial evidence that a
football team is not feasible, then the issue will likely become less
controversial, Gupta said.
Meanwhile, student opinion is varied on whether a football
team would benefit UCSD. Two opposing Facebook groups, for example, reflect
this opposition.
The Facebook group supporting a football team is connected
to the Web site www.gotritons.com, which estimates the cost of a possible
football team at $1 million. Proponents argue that a student fee increase of
approximately $20 per undergraduate could raise the funds needed, which would
include the funds necessary for the creation of additional women’s teams needed
to comply with Title IX. Regarding facilities, the site suggests that RIMAC
fields could be expanded or the team could practice at a community college or
high school. But members also said that scheduling could be a hurdle due to the
lack of Division-II football teams.
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said at the Nov. 1 A.S. Council
meeting that she expected the team to cost more than the $1-million prediction,
citing the $100-million Division-I programs at schools such as Ohio State
University as an upper limit.
“If you’re interested, keep the cards and letters coming,
but for now we don’t have the money,” Fox said at the meeting.
operates the Facebook group protesting the creation of a football team, said
that a team would do far more harm than good, mainly because of the funding it
would require.
King said that UCSD cannot fund full-time scholarships for
football players, and that because of UCSD’s location in
California
and USC in recruiting players.
“It would be impossible to have a Division-I school,” King
said.
He also said that when people imagine a football team at
UCSD, they are probably comparing it to the ones at well-known Division-I
schools, when in reality Division-II football teams are relatively unknown. He
also said that it would be difficult for UCSD to be competitive because the squad
would initially consist of volunteer athletes, while the better athletes would
go to schools that provide scholarships and have a longstanding football
culture.
“We wouldn’t be playing in bowl games,” he said.
The crowds at existing sports, such as basketball and water
polo, are relatively small, King said, and because of Title IX it is likely
that some existing men’s teams would have to be cut in order to match the
number of women’s teams.
Despite the cost, Fox said she is still open to the possibility
of a football team at UCSD, but stressed the difficulties inherent in any
attempts to implement one.
“Chancellor Fox has always felt strongly that athletics and
recreational opportunities are essential to a well-balanced collegiate
experience,” university spokeswoman Dolores Davies said in an e-mail.
She said that while UCSD does not have a football team, it
boasts an award-winning intercollegiate athletics program that also deserves
recognition.
“A football team in UCSD’s future is always a possibility,
but it would require substantial support from students as well as faculty, and
would require a substantial investment of funds both by the campus and in terms
of student fees,” she said.
