The Johnsonian

Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Sports

Ben Henderson

Numbers were released earlier this month saying it would take $16 million to build football facilities and almost $2 million a year to run the team.

I am not too concerned about the initial $16 million it would take to build the proper facilities. It is a one-time cost.

What concerns me is the year-to-year cost. Winthrop will have to come up with almost $2 million every year to make up what revenues do not cover.

I have gone back and forth with the idea whether I think these private donations can come up with the money needed every year to fund the team.

My initial instinct is that we have an alumni base that is mostly women (Winthrop did not become co-ed until 1972) and that they will not care about football enough to donate the money needed to field it year in and year out. My initial instinct too is that the city of Rock Hill won't care enough that Winthrop has football because they will be too wrapped up in Clemson and USC.

But then I keep hearing that not all of Winthrop's alumni are women who went on to be teachers - that there are some that actually have money.

The question becomes whether there are enough of these alumni to field a team.

Winthrop is not a very big school, so in turn there is not nearly as large of an alumni base as there is for other schools. Keep in mind that these donations need to be made annually, not just one time. And with a much smaller alumni base there is added pressure for larger donations to be made.

Now the claim is that this team will be privately funded, which would mean in theory that if the alumni can't come up with the money the team will be the one to suffer and see cutbacks.

Problem is, that's not how it works and that is my main concern.

What happens at places that have football and can't privately fund is that schools start taking funds from other programs and eventually start eliminating men's sports deemed to be "minor".

Coastal (indoor track), Charleston Southern (soccer), Ohio (swimming and track), Minnesota (golf), Rutgers (tennis), The Citadel (soccer and golf), West Virginia (tennis and track), Fresno State (soccer), Central Florida (cross country), Colorado (tennis) and countless others have eliminated sports in recent years while football operates at full capacity.

Would football at Winthrop be interesting? Sure.

But knowing what it does to any men's sports not named basketball makes it too much of a liability.

Yes, Coastal Carolina made the playoffs in less than five years and now wins the Big South year in and year out. I'm happy for them. I wish all the sports in the Big South had the luxury of a minor league division. Maybe one day they can even join Appalachian State in calling themselves "Minor League Football National Champs."

Even when the Mountaineers won their "national championships" they were still at best 70th in the country (keep in mind they lost to a 3-9 NC State team last year). While their game against Michigan brought them national notoriety, it was still a fluke.

Are we willing to risk the well-being of the rest of the athletic department for a fluke?

An undefeated football team equals a stable athletic department. I would like to see that stability continue for many years to come.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools