Sports

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has officially made the decision to pull the plug on their football program, citing financial reasons.

This decision was made after UAB had a consulting firm do a campus-wide study over the past year to determine whether or not keeping a football program was fiscally responsible.

In a statement from the University, UAB explains, “From an operating budget standpoint alone, the difference between maintaining and eliminating football is more than $27 million over the next five years; this is in addition to the existing $100 million institutional subsidy.” The University went on to explain, “This investment does not include additional necessary capital improvements for facilities, which is estimated at $22 million for football facilities alone, including a field house, indoor practice facility and a turf field. This $22 million investment would not include an on-campus stadium.”

University President Ray Watts defended the decision, saying, “While this will be a challenging transition for the UAB family, the financial picture made our decision very clear. We will not cut the current athletic budget, but in order to invest at least another $49 million to keep football over the next five years, we would have to redirect funds away from other critical areas of importance like education, research, patient care or student services.”

Needless to say, the students and student-atheletes don’t see it the same way as Watts.