UTA Football referendum passes in Student Government election!
Photo by Serena Nguyen: Alumni advocate for the UTA’s football referendum during campus elections on April 4 at the UC Mall. The table showcases pictures and jerseys from pre-existing football teams.
Excerpt from The Shorthorn by sports editor By Isaac Appelt, Apr 4, 2023
When students voted in this year’s Student Government elections, they saw a referendum on the ballot asking whether they’d like to partially fund a football team, a measure that hadn’t been put to a vote in nearly 20 years.
As a small crowd gathered Tuesday to hear the results announced at Brazos Park, there was excitement in the air when Student Government leaders announced a referendum concerning Resolution 22-21, “Once and For All, Football,” passed 1,004 to 625.
The referendum asked if students support an “expansion to the Department of Athletics,” which would increase the Intercollegiate Athletics fee up to $250, which is $18.50 per credit hour, a semester, to partially fund a football team and expand women’s sports programs. The fee is currently $8.50 per credit hour, with a maximum of $115.
The referendum was the most recent attempt of multiple generations of students battling to bring football back to UTA. The football team started in 1919 and won three conference titles in 1966, 1967, and 1981. In 1985, the program was discontinued.
The resolution that brought the referendum to the ballot was penned by Dylan Buck, Student Body vice president. When Buck took office in his current role, bringing back football was high on his list, he said. He spent last summer and fall combing through documents looking for old feasibility reports and talking to administrative officials.
Environmental science sophomore Katherine Atkins voted for the measure. “I know it's not going to come into effect while I'm a student here,” Atkins said. “But I know that it'll bring more people to Arlington or UTA in the future.”
Buck said the next steps involve the university putting together a feasibility plan to evaluate if the increase would sustain a team, but the earliest football would be back is 2025. The UT System Board of Regents has to present it to the State Legislature for approval. If the feasibility study shows a significant increase in fees is necessary, students may be asked to vote on it again, he said.
“I think what the students showed tonight is that this is something that they want,” Buck said. “And not only is this something they want, they're willing to pay for it.”
While some students were excited about the measure, others voiced opposition. Biology freshman Chania Hooper said the $250 fee was why she voted no and that she didn’t think the school spirit, or lack thereof, on campus justified an extra $250 on her tuition.
Hooper said she would vote no on most things that asked for a tuition increase. “Half the time with the things they're increasing, it's stuff that I won't even use as a student,” she said. “So it's just kind of a waste of money.”
Buck said the tuition increases would only apply to full-time students with exceptions like those with special accommodations.
When UTA discontinued the football program in November 1985, then-university President Wendell Nedderman cited low student support and financial hardships for the decision that shocked players and coaches, according to a Shorthorn article published that year.
“It’s my opinion, and I hate to say this, that once football is dropped, it will never come back,” Nedderman said in 1985.
UTA football posters lift through the breeze during campus elections April 4 at the UC Mall. UTA alumni Kyle Fuller said his group came to promote the Resolution 22-21, “Once and For All Football.”
UTA alumnus Gerry Mecca, who played from 1979 to 1982, was a member of the 1981 championship team. Mecca said he went UTA games as a child and remembered the streets lined with Mavericks banners while local restaurants broadcast the team’s schedule and results.
UTA alumnus John Johnson, who was on the football team from 1978 to 1981, was also a member of the 1981 Southland Conference championship team. He said he felt pretty bad when he heard that the team was being dropped in 1985.
“Especially after winning the conference and getting the new stadium in 1980, it was kind of heartbreaking,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Mecca are now part of Mavericks For Life, a group of former UTA football players who reminisce about their time on the team. They stood outside the University Center on Monday and Tuesday, talking to students about the football referendum, seeing positive reactions from the community.
The group has put effort into bringing football back, Mecca said. It also campaigned for a similar vote in 2004, when students approved a $2-per-credit hour fee increase to help fund a football team.
Students passed the 2004 referendum by a two-to-one margin, but the university declined to pursue football as funding fell short of the $17 million needed to maintain the team, according to previous Shorthorn reporting.
As Buck spoke with administration officials over the last few months, he said they’d look at the election turnout and how wide the margin of victory was. Buck said he believed the turnout was enough to warrant a response from the university.
“If you want to vote, you're gonna vote,” he said. “So for the people who voted in this campus election, these are the students who are actually paying attention and care.”
Mecca said in a text message it was great to hear the students wanted football. “Now the real work begins,” he said.
Football may be years away, and its return is nowhere near certain. But that doesn’t stop students like Atkins from getting excited at the possibility of a return.
“I think that it'll bring a lot more community to Arlington,” she smiled.
@isaacappelt