UNC athletics is in the midst of a growing firestorm regarding multiple sports and millions of dollars.
Last fall the university made a $50M gamble on hiring Bill Belichick as head football coach. He signed a five-year contract with three years ($30M) guaranteed after Mack Brown was fired.
Meanwhile, UNC spent $600,000 over the past two years on legal bills (according to the athletic.com) exploring ACC realignment as Florida State and Clemson moved to break away from the ACC.
In January, the UNC system president slapped the campus Board of Trustees for overreaching regarding athletics. He scaled back their powers, saying that all further athletic hires and salary adjustments must now be approved by him. The action was reported in a story on the Belichick hiring by the assembly.com.
UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts spoke to the Faculty Council and it sounded like a football pep rally. He told the council, “We’re taking a risk that we’re investing more in football with the hope and ambition that the return is going to significantly outweigh the investment.”
Wral.com reported Conghe Song, a professor and chair of the university’s geography and environment department, questioned Roberts about the spending on athletics. He said the school’s mission is to educate students, do research and provide a service to the state, nation and world.
“No matter how great a sports team is, it cannot be the main story,” said Song, who questioned the spending priorities.
Roberts said he is not confused about the “relative importance of athletics” compared to the university’s academic mission, calling athletics a front porch. He said academics is the core, not athletics.
But, he said, “if you go all over the world, and I’m sure most of you have seen this first-hand, you’ll see people wearing our colors and our logo and they’re doing that mostly because of our sports teams, not because of our political science department.”
The comment drew jeers in the room, the website reported.
This was a rare departure for a UNC chancellor. In years past the chancellor and president were normally aligned with the faculty in urging restraint on athletic spending.
But Roberts pointed out the money used for coaching and staff salaries isn’t available for other university priorities. It comes, he said, from the ACC’s television contract with ESPN and through donations from Rams Club.
“The money that we spend on football, in particular on coaching and staff salaries,” Roberts said, “isn’t available for other university priorities.”
And there’s more. UNC is eyeing the Carolina North Campus (the former airport or Horace Williams property off MLK Blvd. at Estes Dr.) for a new basketball arena as part of a multi use project with lodging, retail, entertainment and dining. The final decision hasn’t been made, but the Carolina North site apparently was recommended in an August 24 Physical Master Plan Working Group report that recently went public.
Consultants studied six alternatives for a new or upgraded Dean Smith Center. The goal is a new building that will generate more money for UNC athletics. A site plan and estimated cost figures were not provided.
The new facility would seat 16,000 with 20 percent premium seats, have 3,000 seats for students and could be planned, funds raised and completed in six years, the report said. There will be luxury suites and club seating areas on two levels and seating for 10,000 on two levels, according to insidecarolina.com.
The proposed multi use project or entertainment center also was mentioned and endorsed in a Triangle Business Journal interview this month with Roberts. No specifics were given.
The Smith Center opened in 1986, with seating capacity 21,750 and cost $34M. UNC’s record there is 486-89.
The report sent broad shockwaves through Chapel Hill.
