Big 12 did an excellent job scooping up the four corner universities. This maintains regional rivalries, it expands TV market size (the entire states of Arizona and Utah), and men’s basketball and baseball within the Big 12 will now be considered the best in college sports. Kudos to the Big 12; however, the expansion should not stop there. Within the next few years and assuming the goal for the Big 12 would be to get to 20 universities, UTSA should be considered a placeholder for one of those remaining spots, so they can finish their Texas expansion while also going after Miami, Clemson and Georgia Tech.
We all know what UTSA and its potential can bring, so I’m not going down that road, but UTSA can really make this happen several ways and contribute to a similar regional expansion. First some help from the University of Texas system, in combination with a revenue bond, can be the first step into getting the critical funding now to begin building a new baseball stadium and basketball arena on campus. Borrowing from the University of Texas endowment fund will be tricky, but if UT wants to one up A&M, getting another UT system university into a power conference is one way to show some dominance between the two systems (note: UCLA and Cal are currently part of the same system). Another solution is to do a joint venture with the Spurs to build a basketball arena on UTSA property (1604 campus), where there is plenty of room and the cost of land is not a factor like it would if built in the downtown area (yes it will be a tough sale, but still a viable option). It will be located next door to The Rock, so that is also a plus for the Spurs. Another option is getting the full commitment from the City of San Antonio in the way of bond funding, but this needs some heavy PR to get the voters behind it. If either of the options above are accomplished, a new baseball stadium, softball stadium and basketball arena, will show UTSA’s and the City of San Antonio’s commitment to having world class facilities.
Let’s also assume that the indoor football practice facility and student athlete food hall get privately funded, so all other sources of funding get directed to these other projects.
In the end, the funding sources need to start trickling in by the beginning of next year in order to have these facilities ready or under construction when the next big realignment occurs.
We all know what UTSA and its potential can bring, so I’m not going down that road, but UTSA can really make this happen several ways and contribute to a similar regional expansion. First some help from the University of Texas system, in combination with a revenue bond, can be the first step into getting the critical funding now to begin building a new baseball stadium and basketball arena on campus. Borrowing from the University of Texas endowment fund will be tricky, but if UT wants to one up A&M, getting another UT system university into a power conference is one way to show some dominance between the two systems (note: UCLA and Cal are currently part of the same system). Another solution is to do a joint venture with the Spurs to build a basketball arena on UTSA property (1604 campus), where there is plenty of room and the cost of land is not a factor like it would if built in the downtown area (yes it will be a tough sale, but still a viable option). It will be located next door to The Rock, so that is also a plus for the Spurs. Another option is getting the full commitment from the City of San Antonio in the way of bond funding, but this needs some heavy PR to get the voters behind it. If either of the options above are accomplished, a new baseball stadium, softball stadium and basketball arena, will show UTSA’s and the City of San Antonio’s commitment to having world class facilities.
Let’s also assume that the indoor football practice facility and student athlete food hall get privately funded, so all other sources of funding get directed to these other projects.
In the end, the funding sources need to start trickling in by the beginning of next year in order to have these facilities ready or under construction when the next big realignment occurs.
