Pacific Index

Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: News

If everything falls into place as it should, Pacific University will be fielding a football team in the fall of 2010.
Ken Schumann, director of athletics, introduced a proposal to bring football back to Pacific University at the Feb. 5 College of Arts and Sciences faculty meeting.
The start-up cost of restarting the football program is $1.5 million, and once established its revenue will cover its annual operating costs, according to the proposal.
The five-page document points to two main reasons why the football program should return to Pacific: the university needs some modest growth to keep our budget afloat, and football would bring the male/female proportion closer to even (it currently sits at 66 percent female, 34 percent male).
It also covers a plethora of questions that come along with bringing a football team back to campus, such as where the team would play. Three solutions are offered in the proposal: play at Hillsboro Stadium next to Highway 26, at Forest Grove High School, which recently had Field Turf installed, or at the Lincoln Park complex.
In order to play at Lincoln Park, the university is in talks with the city of Forest Grove to reopen the contract for the park in order to turn the grass practice field between the soccer stadium and the baseball field into a Field Turf practice facility. According to Schumann, the ideal situation would be to eventually play home games at the Lincoln Park Stadium.
A spreadsheet included with the proposal estimates that the revenue that the football team would bring in would start at about $1.3 million in the first year of play, and would increase to $1.6 million in the second year.
Check out our website for a PDF
of the football proposal.

What: Ken Schumann, director of athletics, presented a proposal at the last College of Arts and Sciences meeting last Thursday to restart the football program at Pacific University.
How much will it cost: The startup cost is $1.5 million; revenue from the program would cover its operating costs after the first year.
What's next: The proposal will be brought in front of the Board of Trustees, who have the power to approve restarting the program, in early March. There will also be an advisory vote from the Pacific University faculty to gauge what the support for restarting the program is. And, there are plans to soon bring the proposal to the students and student groups to get their responses as well.
What else needs to happen: Not all of the money has been raised yet, and no program will be started without assurance that the funds will be available.

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