Tuesday, October 14, 2008

UNT athletic referendum voting underway

By Bryan Shettig of North Texas Daily

UNT's Fouts Field

Voting began Monday for a referendum that would help pay for the construction of a new $60 million football stadium to replace the 56-year-old Fouts Field.

The referendum would increase the athletics student service fee by $7 per semester credit hour. The fee is capped at 15 hours per semester, which means students would pay up to $105 per semester in new service fees. However, the fees would not go into effect until the stadium is built and in use, which would be around 2011.

The proposed stadium will be built across Interstate 35E from UNT's main campus and will seat between 32,000 and 35,000 people. If necessary, the stadium could be renovated in the future to hold up to 50,000.

According to Texas State law, students can only foot half the bill. UNT plans to have donors pay for the other half. Athletics director Rick Villarreal said donors are loyal to the projects they decide to give money to.

"I don't think any donor would back out after pledging to donate money to the stadium," he said. "We have a very high rate of retention with donors."

Villarreal made the case for Fouts Field's inadequacy by citing the stadium's lack of updated compliance with disability accommodations, old restrooms and lack of power. The latter problem requires the department to rent anywhere from 10 to 19 generators for games, with each costing about $200 per rental, he said.

Initially, Villarreal said that it would cost more money to renovate Fouts than to build a new stadium, but no official assessment on renovations has been made.

Fundraising for the proposed stadium began about a year ago, but serious development talks didn't start until about four months ago, he said. Part of the negotiations with football coach Todd Dodge included the promise that a new stadium would be built, Villarreal said.

"What we told him, we told to every other candidate," he said.

Villarreal said that Fouts would not be torn down immediately so its track could remain in use, as designs for the new stadium do not include a track surrounding the field. After Fouts is demolished, Villarreal said a parking garage and additional dorms would be built in its place.

Fees and the Student Government Association

Currently, students pay $3 that goes toward women's athletics. The proposed fee will strike that but add a dedicated athletics fee of $10, for a net increase of $7.

If students vote against the referendum, however, Student Government Association president Jeff Kline said the SGA would stand by that decision and not overturn the vote.

In 2002, the SGA overturned the decision of students who voted against a proposed athletics fee. Students petitioned to recall 19 of the 21 senators that voted for the fee. Later that year, five of the recalled senators were reappointed by the SGA in a Supreme Court appeal.

If students vote to pass the referendum, it must then be approved by the UNT Board of Regents and the Texas Legislature.

"From the discussions I have had with the other regents, we would uphold the students' decision," Regent Gayle Strange said.

Strange said no decisions have been made by the board about how to vote, and the students' vote is important in their decision-making.

The $3 fee from 2002 is still in place but would be removed if the referendum were passed. Instead, the $10 fee will go to the stadium only until it is paid off and then to the athletics department in general. Villarreal said that money would be used to maintain the new stadium - an amount he said will be considerably less than it costs to maintain Fouts.

Making the ballot

Kline said the SGA worked closely with the athletics department and administrators on the wording of the ballot. He said it was approved by the majority of vice presidents on campus prior to going online Monday.

Despite that, the wording of the referendum has even drawn criticism within the SGA.

"I really don't think the wording of the referendum sounds objective enough," said Joe McNulty, a senator from the College of Arts and Sciences. "But I have to accept the decision of the student Senate that passed that wording."

McNulty said he voiced his concerns at a Senate meeting about the referendum's wording, which states the case for how the referendum could improve UNT's recognition.

But Kline disagrees. He said he does not believe the wording of the referendum ballot or the posters on the SGA Web site are biased.

"It's not biased by any means," he said. "It simply states fact."

One of the posters shows a pair of hands holding up a delicate, miniscule stadium and has a tagline that reads, "It's in your hands."

Kline also said better athletics programs "always lead to more exposure" for universities, and the SGA asked senators to name universities with good athletics programs that are not nationally recognized, and none could.

Kline said he expects about a 12 to 15 percent voter turnout and that the average turnout is about 10 percent.

UNT in comparison

When measured against other universities in Texas and the Sun Belt Conference, NT students differ in how much they pay for athletics.

Students at Texas State University, on which the UNT SGA modeled much of its ballot and initiative, pay $10 per semester credit hour for athletics fees. The students there voted in February to increase athletics fees by $2 every year for the next five years, so that they will end up paying $20 per semester credit hour in 2013, Texas State University spokesman Mark Hendricks said.

Students at the University of Houston, however, don't pay any student service fees for their athletics department. Instead, they only pay to use a recreation center, University of Houston officials said.

Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio pay up to $240 per semester for athletics fees.

"This is not a luxury vote," said Villarreal. "We have major problems with the facility we have."

Students can vote for the referendum online at the Student Government Association's Web site, untsga.com, until 5 p.m. Oct. 17. The results will be available at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18.

Ballot Wording

The athletic referendum on the ballot appears as follows:

"In order for the University of North Texas to have a better Athletic program, which in turn can lead to national exposure and increased recognition of UNT; I agree to a dedicated Athletic Fee not to exceed $10 per semester credit hour, capped at 15 hours. Once the Athletic Fee is implemented, the Student Service Fee will be reduced by $3 per semester credit hour. The Athletic Fee shall not be implemented until the semester the new football stadium is complete, which is expected to be fall 2011."

Pegasus News content partner - North Texas Daily

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See more stories in:

• Colleges & Universities > University of North Texas
• Football > College Football > Sun Belt > University of North Texas

Comments

Scott Doyle Verified

Does anyone else find it ridiculously shady that current students are voting on fees which wouldn't go into effect until fall 2011 or later?

Majority of current students (hopefully) will have already graduated...meaning the people this will really impact have absolutely no say in the matter. Nothing says "Welcome to UNT!" like footing the bill prior students forced on you. Way to literally pass the buck.

Not to mention, how in the world would it cost more to renovate Fouts Field for the listed issues than build new? Accommodating for the disabled, remodeling & adding some restrooms, and electrical work...$60 million plus? Absolutely amazing the Athletic program didn't bother looking into estimates for the sake of their argument.

Needless to say, I'm hopeful students wise up and vote this down.

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Jason Rice Verified

It prepares them for their responsibilities as adults at the national level, authorizing megalomaniacs to mortgage their grandchildren's lives for a short term economic boost or to bail out a generation of Harvard MBAs.

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

David Gouldin Staff

I'm with you on the unfairness of penalizing future students for decisions made now, but what would you propose as a fairer solution? Would it be better for current students to pay for a stadium they'll likely never see?

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

Students won't have their $30mil portion of the bill paid off in 3 years. It's likely going to take at least 4 yrs at the $7 fee.

I imagine only about 80% of students, at best, are full-time. Regardless, let's presume they all are taking the capped 15 credit hours...meaning $105 per student. ~35,000 x $105 x 2 full semesters = $7.35 million annually. Round that up to $7.5MM to account for maymesters, summer, etc...presuming every single student takes 15 hours each semester and at least a summer school course - pretty ambitious.

And I'm sure Rick (the AD) would be more than happy to point out this would encourage future alumni to come back for games...meaning their moneys wouldn't go to waste AND they'd have the honor of paying for new stadium tix. Win-win for everyone!!! Right?

If they want to make a "green" impact with student money AND help everyday campus issues, follow in the footsteps of this green parking garage at the Santa Monica Civic Center. Oh, hey look! That ran them $29 million...just under the students' portion of the proposed stadium!

What's this? An environmentally friendly parking area?! Egad, that just might fit UNT's new "We Mean Green" push, and be used more than a handful of times each year!

My brain hurts.

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

Btw, forgot to link to the article that 2nd pic is from. Not trying to steal anyone's thunder, plus there's more detailed info on the structure: http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_si...

Call me crazy, but that sort of thing is exactly up UNT's alley.

In the words of Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own, "Start using your head. That's the lump that's three feet above your ass."

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Lisa Lawrence Merritt Verified

I wonder if they plan on calling Matress Mack to help out....

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

jtmbls Anonymous

It sure is pretty at night. Kinda hideous during the day though.

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )