UNCC Faces Facility, Funding Challenges For Football Program

A report from Univ. of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC) Chancellor Phil Dubois to the school's Board of Trustees indicated that a proposed football program "faces a sobering landscape of up-front costs and uncertain fundraising," according to Peter St. Onge of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The report "offers slivers of hope to football advocates." Dubois will present the report to the board Thursday, but he "will not make a recommendation this week." Such an announcement "probably will come by September." Dubois said that among the "steepest hills for football ... is how to pay for a new or renovated stadium and football facilities." The report speculated that UNCC "likely would play its home games at a renovated Belk Track complex in the heart of campus." But that possibility raises UNCC's "biggest challenge -- how to find tens of millions of dollars for that renovation and other expenses not previously considered." The report shows that donors "historically have targeted [UNCC's] non-athletic programs with 75[%] of their gifts." Of the 886 supporters who have made "unbinding pledges" to UNCC football, only 33% had given to the university before. Meanwhile, Dubois said that another venue option, Memorial Stadium near uptown, "has been discounted" after a visit from HOK Sport "helped determine that investing in renovation would not be worth the short-term benefit" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/3).