ANDREW RICHARDSON
Special to The Leader
Football is the country’s most popular sport. Though Fredonia has never fielded a team of its own, the campus did host the Buffalo Bills’ summer training camp in the 1980s and ‘90s. The idea of a football team on campus is appealing to many Fredonia students.
Fredonia senior Jake Burke said that he would “love a football team on campus; there are not too many games I go to now, but if we got a football team I would go to every game.”
Even some of the art students could appreciate a football team.
“Football is not the best sport in the world, but I can appreciate the atmosphere and how it is able to bring so many people together,” said junior Jacinda Garcia.
For all of the excitement and wonder behind the possibility of a Fredonia football team, the chances of that happening are very slim for many reasons.
To start off, Fredonia has already pondered the idea of a football team many years ago and eventually decided against it.
“I was recently told that years ago — before I worked here — the college administration kicked around the idea of adding football but apparently balked at the cost,” said Sports Information Director Jerry Reilly.
Secondly, just like finance was a problem back then, finance is a problem now, too. Football is an extremely expensive sport, even at the Division III level, according to Associate Director of Athletics Megan Valentine.
“Football would be incredibly expensive on a number of ends: (1) it would further distort our proportionality, (2) we don’t have necessary facilities for our current teams, (3) adding staffing for a coaching staff and support staff, i.e., administrators, support in sports information, athletic training,” said Valentine.
By “further distort our proportionality,” Valentine is talking about the ratio between men’s and women’s sports that must be even and is regulated by the NCAA in accordance to Title IX.
According to Valentine, over the years Fredonia has been trying to add more women’s teams.
“Two years ago, our conference athletic directors and presidents reviewed the possibility of adding women’s ice hockey. It was turned down due to the fact that men’s ice hockey is already one of the more expensive teams on the books that we offer,” Valentine said.
Valentine suggests to add a different women’s team.
“In my professional opinion, the most logical choice for a sport to add would be women’s field hockey. Interest exists, the travel schedule and budgetary expenses would resemble expenses for [a] soccer program,” said Valentine.
There are many factors that go into starting a new sports team at a Division III school. Almost all of these are working against the possibility of a football team at SUNY Fredonia. Though the idea is popular among the campus community, more is needed than student support to start an entire sports team on campus.