True Or False ?

UNTflyer · June 7, 2010

As I have indicated several times in these forums, it is hazy at best what the new athletic fee will or will not do. The point of these posts was to caution over enthusiastic fans about bragging about all the increased millions of dollars NT is going to have once the new student athlete fee as kicked in. My recollection is that the student fee use is limited to 50% of the construction costs of the new football stadium. Like the student recreation center, once those costs are gone; the fee will be eliminated and not one cent will go to the athletic operating budget.

That isn't true at all. Read the bill that passed the legislature, not one word is mentioned about the stadium - all it mentions is bonds that the athletics department has to service. Basically, as long as we have bonds to pay, we have an athletic fee. And there is plenty of time to change that in the future.

The student service fee went away! If the new athletic fee is pulled, we have ZERO dollars. The legislature will not do that to us.

Edited June 7, 2010 by UNTflyer

Mean Green 93-98 · June 7, 2010

The truth is that the NT students athletic fee election was not like those passed at UTSA and TSUSM were they approved fees for major increases to their athletic budgets.

The fee was described as a "dedicated athletics fee." Dr. B and RV discussed how messed up it was the way we funded our athletics programs. The need for the stadium was stressed, but prior to passing through Rick Perry's office, there was no mention of a stadium or construction in the fee.

foutsrouts · June 7, 2010

If this is true, I guess we can kiss the idea of a near-term baseball program goodbye. Unless of course something unexpected falls from the sky. I know we're busy with the stadium and such, but getting the ball rolling on the baseball project ASAP could be very important when conference shakeup time soon arrives.

Army of Dad · June 7, 2010

If this is true, I guess we can kiss the idea of a near-term baseball program goodbye. Unless of course something unexpected falls from the sky. I know we're busy with the stadium and such, but getting the ball rolling on the baseball project ASAP could be very important when conference shakeup time soon arrives.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

GrandGreen · June 7, 2010

A copy of actual bill, could have been amended; but it seems to indicate that the student athletic fee can be used for other uses than construction and can be raised within guidelines by the BOR. If this is the approved bill, it is all good news and contradictory to what I though I knew. Sometimes it feels good to be wrong.

AN ACT relating to an intercollegiate athletics fee at the University of North Texas. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.5191 to read as follows: Sec. 54.5191. INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS FEE; UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS. (a) The board of regents of the University of North Texas System may charge each student enrolled at the University of North Texas an intercollegiate athletics fee in an amount not to exceed $10 per semester credit hour for each semester or summer session. ( A student enrolled in more than 15 semester credit hours shall pay the fee in an amount equal to the amount imposed on a student enrolled in 15 semester credit hours during the same semester or session. © The fee may not be charged before the first semester a new football stadium is available for use at the university. (d) If compulsory student services fees are charged to students enrolled at the university under Section 54.503, the total amount of those fees charged to a student shall be reduced by $3 per semester credit hour for the first semester in which an intercollegiate athletics fee is charged under this section. (e) Revenue from the fee charged under this section may be used only for financing, constructing, operating, maintaining, or improving an athletic facility or for operating an intercollegiate athletics program at the university. (f) The fee may not be charged unless approved by a majority vote of the students enrolled at the university who participate in a general student election held for that purpose. The ballot for the election to approve the fee must state a maximum amount of the fee that may be charged per semester credit hour, not to exceed the maximum amount prescribed by Subsection (a). (g) The amount of the fee may not be increased to an amount that exceeds by 10 percent or more the amount of the fee as last approved by a student vote under Subsection (f) or this subsection unless the increase has been approved by a majority vote of the students enrolled at the university who participate in a general student election held for that purpose. (h) The chief fiscal officer of the university shall collect the fee and shall deposit the revenue from the fee in an account to be known as the intercollegiate athletics fee account. (i) A fee charged under this section is not considered in determining the maximum amount of student services fees that may be charged each student enrolled at the university under Section 54.503. (j) The fee may not be charged after the fifth academic year in which the fee is first charged unless, before the end of that academic year, the university has issued bonds payable from the fee, in which event the fee may not be charged after the academic year in which all such bonds, including refunding bonds for those bonds, have been fully paid. SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009. ____________________________________________________________ President of the SenateSpeaker of the House

Edited June 7, 2010 by GrandGreen

EAGLE83 · June 7, 2010

LETS GET WinStar Cssino to make a big donation.

UNTLifer · June 7, 2010

I seem to recall RV stating that once the football stadium issue was addressed, then he would turn his attention to baseball.

As was stated on the radio yesterday, D1 football creates, on average, 83% of a departments revenue with men's basketball coming in second at 15%. I know people want baseball, as do I, but we must currently focus on the facility that will provide the solutio to the greatest need.

GrandGreen · June 7, 2010

That isn't true at all. Read the bill that passed the legislature, not one word is mentioned about the stadium - all it mentions is bonds that the athletics department has to service. Basically, as long as we have bonds to pay, we have an athletic fee. And there is plenty of time to change that in the future.

The student service fee went away! If the new athletic fee is pulled, we have ZERO dollars. The legislature will not do that to us.

Well, if the bill posted above is indeed the final document; there apparently is no limitation for the athletic fee to be used only for capital projects although the fees continuation is contingent on having on-going bond service requirements. So I stand corrected.

The question than becomes what are the debt restrictions placed on the fees by the bond agreements. Those agreements could limit the use or completely restrict those athletic fees from being used for other purposes.

I don't comprehend your last sentence. There was no mention in my post of eliminating the fee until the stadium obligation is met. The question was can those funds be used for operating expenses and can the fee continue after the student portion of the bonds is paid for. The apparent answer to both questions is yes assumming that NT continues to issue bonds for athletic facilites and the BOR is behind the use.

Edited June 7, 2010 by GrandGreen

GreenStreet · June 7, 2010

They will if it's cheaper to just rent a billboard. Cheaper, more prominent, and more direct.

Would you rather see Dr. Pepper on a billboard or on a Stadium? Regardless of cost, big companies know how much money to spend on good marketing. This does not mean Dr. Pepper would benefit from UNT sports, but more from a driver passing by.

Quoner · June 7, 2010

Would you rather see Dr. Pepper on a billboard or on a Stadium? Regardless of cost, big companies know how much money to spend on good marketing. This does not mean Dr. Pepper would benefit from UNT sports, but more from a driver passing by.

A billboard finally made me do something besides apply to UTD or UNT. I saw Avenue Q last week after months of driving by a billboard for it. Now, it was actually because a friend was buying tickets and asked me if I wanted in, but I recalled the billboard for once when I made the order.

Just think -- we could do all this and more for someone else's brand on the side of our stadium. Open your wallets and get ready to reap the benefits, DFW-area business leaders!

On a serious note, I hope this is sub bullet #50 when we present to area businesses. I also hope we've developed #49 other sub bullets because it's a difficult time to make a case to sponsor something.

TheTastyGreek · June 8, 2010

Would you rather see Dr. Pepper on a billboard or on a Stadium? Regardless of cost, big companies know how much money to spend on good marketing. This does not mean Dr. Pepper would benefit from UNT sports, but more from a driver passing by.

I just so happen to know that if you're a company renting four billboards near the southern end of the I-35E&W merger (down near Hillsboro/Waco), you can get four billboards, two in either direction, for somewhere between $3600-5000 per month. Given the populations and the relative traffic flow at each end of the I-35 diamond, I would suspect that that end is probably the same price or higher compared with what it costs up in Denton.

If we sold the naming rights to the stadium for $10 million across 20 years, that comes out to $41,667 per month.

Let's say that counts as the geographic equivalent of two billboards (one in each direction). Naming rights based on geography would mean that having a name on a stadium was 16 to 23 times more expensive than just renting two billboards.

A company sponsoring us for the marquee value of drive-by awareness wouldn't be paying a double premium for their marketing. Not a triple premium. They'd be paying somewhere around TWENTY TIMES what it would cost them to just get a pair of billboards.

And that's if we sold it for what Akron got from a personal donor/community booster, for a price that's half of what Flyer says we're hoping to get.

Again... The real value of naming rights, and the reason that companies pay for the naming privilege, is the media exposure from TV, print, and radio.

I don't mean for today to turn into personal show-and-tell day, but I also spent two years selling naming rights and various sponsorships for a sporting event with a national cable TV broadcast deal. This was in 2007-08, and even though we thought that was a tough economic time to sell that sort of advertising opportunity, it was easy street compared to what the people on that assignment are dealing with today.

UNTflyer · June 8, 2010

Again... The real value of naming rights, and the reason that companies pay for the naming privilege, is the media exposure from TV, print, and radio.

Yup. Every time George says "Coming to you tonight from Coca-Cola Stadium, home of Lowe's Field where the Mean Green kicking woes continue..." it's worth a 10 second radio spot.

Marty · June 8, 2010

LETS GET WinStar Cssino to make a big donation.

Maybe one of the casinoes in Shreveport-Bossier City that are losing Texans to Winstar and Choctaw would like to purchase the naming rights to the new stadium: how would Horseshoe Stadium sound?

DallasGreen · June 8, 2010

First of all the bonds are out. I bought some last week. They are sold in $5K increments and are selling at a premium, $103.83 as I recall with a 5% coupon rate, 4.8% YTM. They are either 25 or 30 year bonds but are callable within three years. To someone in the 30% incremental tax bracket this is the equivalent of 7.1% interest on a taxable issue. The very fact that they are callable shows belief in the project. If they are not called and go to maturity the student fee stays in effect for a minimum of 20 years. The act reads that the fee stays in effect as long as there is debt. You can bet that on or before the stadium is paid off there will be new bond issues for baseball and track stadiums. In the meantime the BOR can annually increase the fee by 1% per year. This provides money to pay competitive coaches salaries and other operating costs. Naming rights will have nothing to do with loyalty or alumni. It's strictly a business deal. We are the ONLY public university in the DFW metroplex supporting D-1 athletics. This is one of the fastest growing regions in the country and one of the least affected by the economic downturn. I find it interesting that Winnstar was previously mentioned. It is almost a forgone conclusion that Texas will not keep watching all this casino revenue continue to flow to OK, LA, etc. Talk about visability think about a casino between the stadium and the speedway on 35W. It could be closer than you think. The tribe that bought Lone Star Park in Grand Prarie did it because they know the increased potential for an on site casino with the horse track. All we can do now is as KRAM says and support the program, but the upside is phenominal. I have said for the last twenty years no matter how many backward boneheaded moves that Denton makes location will always bail out it and UNT. That has never been more true than today!!

adman · June 8, 2010

Maybe one of the casinoes in Shreveport-Bossier City that are losing Texans to Winstar and Choctaw would like to purchase the naming rights to the new stadium: how would Horseshoe Stadium sound?

Great! If your mascot is a pony.

jtm0097 · June 8, 2010

Maybe one of the casinoes in Shreveport-Bossier City that are losing Texans to Winstar and Choctaw would like to purchase the naming rights to the new stadium: how would Horseshoe Stadium sound?

Comparing Winstar and Choctaw to the Horseshoe, is like comparing the Sun Belt to the SEC. I would love the idea of the Horseshoe stadium though.

MeanGreen61 · June 8, 2010

First of all the bonds are out. I bought some last week. They are sold in $5K increments and are selling at a premium, $103.83 as I recall with a 5% coupon rate, 4.8% YTM. They are either 25 or 30 year bonds but are callable within three years. To someone in the 30% incremental tax bracket this is the equivalent of 7.1% interest on a taxable issue. The very fact that they are callable shows belief in the project. If they are not called and go to maturity the student fee stays in effect for a minimum of 20 years. The act reads that the fee stays in effect as long as there is debt. You can bet that on or before the stadium is paid off there will be new bond issues for baseball and track stadiums. In the meantime the BOR can annually increase the fee by 1% per year. This provides money to pay competitive coaches salaries and other operating costs. Naming rights will have nothing to do with loyalty or alumni. It's strictly a business deal. We are the ONLY public university in the DFW metroplex supporting D-1 athletics. This is one of the fastest growing regions in the country and one of the least affected by the economic downturn. I find it interesting that Winnstar was previously mentioned. It is almost a forgone conclusion that Texas will not keep watching all this casino revenue continue to flow to OK, LA, etc. Talk about visability think about a casino between the stadium and the speedway on 35W. It could be closer than you think. The tribe that bought Lone Star Park in Grand Prarie did it because they know the increased potential for an on site casino with the horse track. All we can do now is as KRAM says and support the program, but the upside is phenominal. I have said for the last twenty years no matter how many backward boneheaded moves that Denton makes location will always bail out it and UNT. That has never been more true than today!!

Thanks Dallas. Very informative post.