Football is in the air, but not at UVU
Around this time of year many people are abuzz with excitement over football season. Such excitement can lead to questions like, why doesn’t UVU have a football team and when might a football team be coming to UVU?
The answer is simple: It won’t be anytime soon, and there is a very simple reason why.
UVU is so concerned about its own expansion of classrooms and earning academic prestige that football becomes an afterthought.
Many people might have thought that moving to the WAC would eventually lead to a football team. However, not having a football team paved the way for UVU to reach it to a mid-major conference-a conference that not only has automatic qualifying rounds to national tournaments, but a conference that is eligible to play against the best competition in the country.
A football team would need a provision or practice time period, much like the basketball team has gone through in making their way up to the level of play they have been playing at for several years now. A football team would have many years of losing seasons while making the transition into Division I football.
One of the top factors of not having a football team is the cost. While making the transition, the football team would have to have less home games and play on the road to help the bigger schools “tune up” for their respective seasons. Travelling across the country is very costly. On average, a smaller college team will travel around 40 players and their coaches making it close to 50 people travelling. Hotels and food also add to the expense, forcing many small schools to lose money on their football programs.
The school would also be required to spend thousands, if not millions, of dollars for scholarships for the athletes on the team. Money that the school would, again, rather spend on necessities like classrooms or dorms for students.
One of the biggest factors as to why a football team won’t be coming to UVU anytime soon is support. Many football fans at UVU have said that they want a football team here, but attendance would be an issue. To become a Division I program, the school would be required to build a new stadium, and the stadium needs to be filled to 15,000 people. Those 15,000 people needed each week have already proven in other sports that they would rather support the University of Utah or BYU.
A word of advice for those football fans that want a team at Utah Valley: Support the programs that already exist at UVU. The basketball and wrestling teams, for example, have had some really good talent come through their programs, and much of it has gone unnoticed. The more students show interest in our own school athletics, the more the school will be likely to listen the demand of having a football team.
Having a football team is a status symbol, saying that the university has arrived athletically. Having a club is nice, but playing real teams with real athletes would mean so much more for the school and football fans alike at Utah Valley.
Garrett is native of Orem, Utah. He is a graduate of Timpanogos High School. While in high school, Garrett enjoyed playing sports and was a double lettered athlete in football in wrestling. After a short stint of college football at Dixie State, Garrett made his way back to Utah Valley in pursuit of his aspirations of becoming a sports journalist. Garrett has been contributing for the UVU Review for three years and has covered sports, specializing in wrestling. Garrett is married to Jodi Coleman and served an LDS mission to Baguio Philippines. You can follow him on twitter @legendgary
Its not fair to say that we need to support our current teams. I could care less about basketball, or wrestling or other academic programs like that. You can’t just group all athletics together into one group because a football program is completely different. Thats why you’re writing this article in the first place and thats why this is even an issue.
In fact I see the exact opposite, we have no reason to respect our other sports because we have no football status. Why should I care about who we wrestle when our school doesn’t even have a football team? Why should I care when we can’t even represent ourselves in one of the largest sports in the country? Merely not having a football team ruins any school pride or confidence in other sports.
Quote : “Those 15,000 people needed each week have already proven in other sports that they would rather support the University of Utah…
continued….. You cant pull a statistic out of a fan base that hasn’t had a chance to exist. That analogy is complete crap.
Troy, I disagree. I think that statistic is pretty accurate considering the amount of BYU and U of U fans we have at the school sporting those colors instead of the Wolverine colors. Don’t you think students who go to BYU football games don’t also go to basketball and volleyball games? Or that U of U fans that go to their football games also go to their softball and baseball programs? It shows an overall support of the school for all their athletics, not just one sport. I’ve gone personally to UVU basketball (men’s and women’s), soccer, volleyball, and wrestling to show my UVU support. I’m a U of U fan but still sport my Wolverine colors when at school and I attend a lot of the games. I hope one day there will be a football program but the real reason there won’t be one for a while as Garrett points out is the cost. Stop stepping on one of his thoughts and look at his story as a…
You are wrong sir. There are likely UVU students who go the BYU or Utah games for basketball, volleyball, or football but, they are few and do not make up the majority. Just look at attendance records for all three schools and the respective sports. Football is Americas game with far greater an attendance than Basketball and especially Volleyball or wrestling.
I know im commenting late on my own article. I cant see people going to games at all. I played football for Dixie State, and the product we put out on the field was not good enough to warrant 1000 people to the game. High school games drew a bigger crowd. UVU would be terrible for a while and people don’t want to see a crappy team. Even with Utah State getting better, they don’t have as many people as they should for their games.
YES, UVU is now a D1 school. Garrett Coleman has a good point about entiring the WAC.
If they start a football team, here are the opptions:
FBS (Division I-A Conferences)
1) American Athletic, 2) ACC, 3) Big 12, 4) Big Ten, 5) Conference USA, 6) FBS Independents, 7) Mid-American, 8) Mountain West, 9) Pac-12, 10) SEC,11) Sun Belt
FCS (Division I-AA Conferences)
1) Big Sky, 2) Big South, 3) CAA, 4) FCS Independents, 5) Great West, 6) Ivy, 7) MEAC, 8) Missouri Valley, 9) Northeast, 10) Ohio Valley, 11) Patriot League, 12) Pioneer, 13) Southern, 14) Southland, 15) SWAC
Now, the have a good chance making a name for them selfs in these conferences which are still D1. If tehy REALLY want to make a name for them selfs in Utah. they would join the Big Sky. Weber State and SUU are in that conference. Beat those teams, in taht conference, and you’ll improve your fanbase of…
Continued & Spell Checked
*Now, they have a good chance making a name for themselfs in these conferences which are still D1. If they REALLY want to make a name for them selfs in Utah, they would join The Big Sky. Weber State and SUU are in that conference, beat those 2 teams, and you’ll improve your fanbase here in Utah Valley.*
If only Utah Valley University could get UCCU, Marriot, New Skin or some buisness/someone to donate enough money to build that stadium. Living close to Provo Center Street and seeing the progress of New Skin, (The building, of their second building) my vote is New Skin out of the 3, they have yet to make their Stamp on College Sports here in the Valley
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