Sports

LEE: Fee would sack LBSU for loss

A long-standing undefeated mark at Long Beach State could fall forever.

Since 1991, 49er football has enjoyed a stretch with zeroes in the loss column that even USC would love to experience. So impressive a feat, in fact, that the campus bookstore sells T-shirts to commemorate it.

That could all be erased if, by some unforeseeable chance, the latest attempt to revive the sport succeeds.

The April 8 edition of the Daily 49er reported on a petition to impose an $86 semester fee over the next five years to help field a team in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA). Women’s crew, field hockey and lacrosse would also be added to meet Title IX requirements.

As much as I’d want a team, football programs rarely produce money unless they belong to a BCS conference. Such a short-sighted proposal would tap into an already stretched athletic budget.

LBSU chopped its program in 1991 due to state budget cuts, and the 49ers’ 2-9 record in their final year in Division 1-A — now called the Football Bowl Subdivision — provided a weak case for keeping the team. The Beach was a minnow in the giant pond of 1-A.

It’s tough to sell football during a sputtering economy when schools nationwide have either dropped or are considering axing the sport.

Hofstra, the latest program to be handed a death sentence, was bleeding $4.5 million annually to operate its FCS program, according to The New York Times. The Boston Globe reported that Northeastern’s program relied on $3 million per year before folding last November.

FCS programs typically do not break even. Aside from limited television revenue, home games draw a little more than 8,000 fans on average, compared to the 45,000-plus that pass through the gates at FBS games, according to 2009 NCAA figures.

FCS teams often schedule games against FBS members to get throttled in exchange for a share of the ticket revenues — a risky move when trying to lure in new fans.

Another roadblock is Title IX, which mandates that the proportion of female athletes must fall within 5 percent of the representation of women in the school’s total enrollment.

FCS football works at Cal Poly because its ratio is 56-to-44 in favor of males. According to fall 2009 enrollment figures, The Beach had a 60-40 female-to-male student ratio, meaning that more women’s sports would need to be added to reach Title IX compliance.

The proposed $86 fee multiplied by the current student enrollment, times two semesters, equals roughly $5.5-6 million per year to spend on the added sports.

Allocate that to the 63 scholarships for FCS football, 20 scholarships for women’s rowing and 12 apiece for women’s field hockey and lacrosse, and The Beach would be hard-pressed to ensure every program the resources to field a competitive team.

That’s not factoring in traveling expenses for 80 football players, or the question of where the team would play. An on-campus stadium is needed for football to work at a Southland commuter school, where other entertainment options are available.

It’s asking too much of apathetic students to drive to Long Beach City College’s Veterans Stadium for football when they can’t even fill the Walter Pyramid for basketball games unless it’s Greek Night.

A school has bigger concerns than football, if local community colleges have better outdoor facilities than its Division 1 teams.

As for the “increasing a school’s visibility” argument, Xavier, Gonzaga and George Mason have generated national buzz for their schools through the success of their men’s basketball programs. None of these colleges play NCAA football.

Butler University sponsors an FCS team, but did not garner headlines until advancing to this year’s men’s basketball national championship game.

It’s not worth gutting an entire athletic program just to feed one sport that’s not guaranteed to succeed.

Not investing in football would free up funds to develop the 49ers’ rising hoops programs and help sports like baseball and volleyball remain nationally competitive.

And it would keep the unbeaten streak intact.

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