December 20, 2006

Atlanta, GA (CSTV U-WIRE) -- Touchdowns, field goals and pigskin may be in the near future for the Georgia State community.

Students, faculty, staff and alumni showed a great interest in having a football program according to a football feasibility study that the Georgia State Athletic Department released last Tuesday.

The study, conducted by CH Johnson Consulting seven months ago, was proposed by University President Dr. Carl Patton and the Student Government Association to determine the potential interest and cost in establishing a new sports program.

"I was told that I would be looking into that [football program], as a result of our move to the CAA, which offers us the opportunity to play football and as a result of interest that had been expressed to Dr. Patton from students and some alums," said Mary McElroy, director of athletics.

"The other purpose of the feasibility study was to almost do a scratch test; we were trying to scratch the surface to see if there was enough interest in bringing a football program to Georgia State to warrant deeper consideration," McElroy explained.

According to former SGA Vice President Dominique Huff, the study was conducted in exchange for a fee increase the department requested.

The results of the study showed that a majority of the university body wants a football program, but potential challenges involve the incurred costs of such a monumental project and how it could be financially supported.

The study chose four major components to assess the financial impact of adding football: the football program, additional women's sports to maintain gender equity, additional staff in the Athletic Department to support the additional sports and facility costs for practice and competition.

The football program itself would compete among other teams in division 1-AA at a cost of $2 to $3 million annually. Additionally, the program would allow the university to participate in other sports offered by the CAA that Georgia State currently does not have.

To accomplish this, the study suggested that at least three women's sports should be added to maintain gender equity. Those sports include women's field hockey, lacrosse and rowing. McElroy sees this as a positive, allowing Georgia State to become a leader in athletics both inside and outside the conference.

"Two of them that they talked about we will go with, and that is women's field hockey and women's lacrosse because we could fit those very easily into our current plans for Panthersville," she said.

Women's rowing, however, would be more difficult to incorporate into Georgia State's sports roster.

"Rowing does present special challenges because of the location. Logistically it would be a challenge; financially it could get a little expensive, too. But it is one we will look at," McElroy said.

The Athletic Department will also consider other sports besides those that were proposed in the study.

"It would make it easier for us to compete if there are sports that are also offered by other conference schools. If we go for something that is not offered in the conference, for instance, then we have to fashion a schedule for various entities," McElroy said.

She suggested that the Athletic Department would look locally for other team sports, which would be an advantage over competing in the CAA because of the university's location.

But McElroy has seen great results since Georgia State University moved to the CAA conference. "Competitively, the CAA has been a fabulous move for us. It really has worked wonders with recruiting," she said.

"I really don't expect it to be long before we are in the top echelon of the CAA in all or most of our sports, which is a realistic goal."

A major portion of the study also focused on the need for facilities to house the teams and provide a space for practice and competition. Four possible scenarios, ranging in costs from $2.4 million to $20 million annually, were selected to give Georgia State options for facilities.

Of the four, the least expensive option would involve renting the Georgia Dome for football games and building a football practice facility at Panthersville, an athletic center currently used by Georgia State baseball, softball and cross-country teams.

McElroy has already initiated talks with Georgia Dome officials to "see if the numbers are in fact lining up like they were outlined in the study" because the consulting firm did not directly talk with those at the Dome to get accurate data about costs.

She also noted that Georgia State would have to take into consideration the size of the Georgia Dome in comparison to the number of students who would actually attend the game. "The major disadvantage that I see at the Georgia Dome is just the size of it [�]. It wouldn't feel warm and full," she said.

McElroy mentioned that the Atlanta-based facility does offer great suites, nice concessions and wonderful tailgating opportunities. When bad weather happens, the indoor facility offers a dry field for players. And to top it off, the Georgia Dome gives Georgia State students the bragging rights of playing on a professional field.

"There are a lot of nice things. People would have to be okay with feeling like they're a little kid sitting on a giant chair," McElroy said. "If we can get a lot of our Georgia State faithful passionate about coming to our football games then maybe we can fill it."

The most expensive option at $20 million would involve a complete overhaul of the current sports arena replacing it with a stadium/arena and building a football practice facility downtown.

Convenience would be a major plus and students would feel like they were attending a more traditional university.

Though she likes that option, the main problem McElroy sees is the amount of money to fund the project. "We would just have to figure out how to finance that," she said.

Finding a place for the basketball team to practice and compete during stadium construction is another disadvantage to the plan.

"A lot of people like the idea of having your own, you just don't like the idea, especially if you're a university, of being on somebody's borrowed turf," she said.

The other two alternatives were as follows: renting and improving the Panthersville stadium and building a football practice facility at Panthersville; or renting and improving the Southside stadium and building a football practice facility at Panthersville.

The cost would total $2.5 million and $5 million, respectively, and both would require fans to drive some distance, which doesn't seem like a problem for those who responded to the survey as part of the study.

While these options look promising, McElroy is not holding out to these few suggestions.

"That is a starting point. We are going to take that feasibility study and we are going to ask more questions, we're going to pursue other options with regard to facilities," she said.

"There are other downtown stadiums we might look at. This week we talked about Panthersville where some of the Dekalb schools play football. We could also look at Lakewood, we could look at Grady [high school]; there are many more options that would be nearby."

In order to fund any part of this potential football plan, the Athletic Department would need the cooperation of university students. This would come in the form of increasing the athletic fee.

The study suggested that the university increase its athletic fee by up to $200 per student. The fee would be $484 per year, up from $284, and would generate $5.2 million toward costs in addition to donations from alumni, donors and the university.

This causes concern for some students because an increase in the athletic fee would mean a possible increase in the tuition fee.

"I probably wouldn't really like it," senior Ashley Biles said. "I have HOPE [scholarship], so it wouldn't bother me as much as it would someone who is paying out of their pocket."

High student fees, though, are not uncommon. Of the universities that the study reported student fee percentages, Georgia State ranked third with 88 percent of its athletic budget being supported by student fees. The highest was 90 percent at James Madison University and the lowest was Georgia Southern University with 46 percent.

"At the 1-AA level that is typically how football or even athletics is funded. At the 1-AA level it is understood that the revenue opportunities aren't as great as at the 1-A level," McElroy said.

"There's not as much TV; the 1-A's make a lot of money from TV contracts, and they make a lot of money from their respective championship."

However, McElroy said the fee increase could be phased in yearly starting with a $100 increase. The study suggested the same, concluding that the full $200 increase would not go into effect until 2012.

McElroy also said that students need not worry because an increase in athletic fees would not occur until the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

But she hopes that students will agree to a one-time increase so that the department could take a portion of the money and apply it to start up costs and then put the rest into an interest-bearing account to generate more money as the project continues.

She also reported that the Athletic Department is working to increase alumni support and corporate sponsorship as well.

"But that would offer the students to have all the home football games; they wouldn't have to pay for any tickets, for instance. And they've got somewhere to go to yell and scream for their team," McElroy said.

Ultimately, it is up to students to participate in the push for a new football program.

"Saying you're going to support it and going out to the games is different from actually paying money and being there," said Kevin Olivette, head of Panther Pack, Georgia State University's official fan club.

For starters, the Athletic Department plans to hold town hall meetings starting spring semester.

"We will hold those up in the athletic arena because that's the biggest place on campus or the largest place that people could gather. I would hope that a lot of people would come and participate in the discussion," said McElroy. She encourages students to show their support and let the administrators and SGA know that they want this.

"It's got to be something that is supported institutionally. I've always stressed from the beginning that this is an institutional decision, not just an athletics decision. We all have to be excited about it," she said.

For now, McElroy wants to see students getting involved with the sports that are already present.

"I do encourage people in the meantime to come on over to the basketball arena, come to men's and women's basketball games and come support the other sports to get their lungs in shape for yelling for their football team."

(C) 2006 The Georgia State University Signal via CSTV U-WIRE