UNCC says "yes" -- sort of -- to football

I just came back from attending the UNCC Board of Trustees meeting where Chancellor Phil Dubois finally answered the "F" question, as he calls it, with a "yes, but...."

Dubois recommended that the school start a football program by 2013, in Division I-AA, but also set some very high hurdles in terms of the finances. And in this economy, we know that's a tough sell.

Here's my first attempt at a column on the subject -- this will be modified slightly, but not too much, for Friday's newspaper. Basically, I'm for football at UNCC, but with this stormy economy, I'm still not positive it will happen. Or, if it does, if it will happen at the on-campus stadium Dubois wants.

The 49ers plan to sell a version of permanent seat licenses called "FSLs," or Forty-Niner Seat Licenses. Here's one thing I don't like about that, though -- they are "non-transferable." The Panthers are transferable, obviously, and that's one of the main attractions.

I told UNCC athletic director Judy Rose that this was one of the few points in Dubois's plan that I'm really not sold on today; that I think the FSLs will need to be transferable or they're going to be a much harder sell. Rose said this point was still being debated and that to phrase the idea as "under construction," because the FSL concept will definitely be tweaked before they start getting sold (and that won't happen until after the Nov.13 trustees' meeting, when I expect the trustees will approve the Dubois plan).