As September moves along, thoughts turn to dreams of crisper autumn weather, complete with crunchy leaves and pumpkin-flavored treats. For me, fall brings about one of my favorite times of year: Homecoming. Although I have always had a blast with Elizabethtown College’s Homecoming celebrations, I still miss the traditional homecoming football game.
In the Middle Atlantic Conference, Albright College, Delaware Valley College, Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham University, King’s College, Lebanon Valley College, Lycoming College, Misericordia University, Stevenson University, Widener University and Wilkes University all have football programs. Although we do not have a program at Etown, many students often wonder why we don’t have a football team.
A reason that we often hear for Etown not having a football team is because of our Brethren heritage. According to Athletic Director Nancy Latimore, “In the early years, I assume that football didn’t fit in well with the College’s mission, and emphasis on peace and non-violence.” And yes, it is true that the Church of the Brethren does have many peace-oriented values, but these values are not necessarily applicable anymore. According to the College’s website, in Etown’s beginning years, any type of athletic competition was frowned upon by the administration. However, by the 1920s, students were vying for a change, and in 1928, Ira R. Herr was named the school’s first athletic director.
Since then, many changes have occured at Etown. For one thing, the Church of the Brethren completely released any governance roles at the College in 1993. Now only 8 of the 42 Board of Trustees positions must be members of the Church. Obviously the influence of the Brethren heritage is not as strong now as it was in 1899, although peace and nonviolence are still extremely important values that the College tries to fully integrate into campus life. Still some may argue that football is too violent of a sport. To refute that argument, I ask, have you ever seen a men’s lacrosse game? There isn’t tackling, but the men hit each other with sticks. I would say the violence level of the two is pretty comparable.
Regardless of whether football is too violent or not, the next issue is the expense of college football programs. To get a football program, Etown would need to make serious investments into improving our current athletic facilities and adding additional facilities. Also, a coaching staff would need to be hired, including strength and conditioning coaches. Our athletic training staff would need to be augmented in addition to the rehabilitation resources. With the ever-increasing demand for money from our academic departments, our other campus facilities and our campus residences, those extra funds could be hard to come by.
On the other hand, those costs could be quickly absorbed with the addition of the football program. The NCAA’s most recent Division III Intercollegiate Athletics Programs Report — which was released in 2010 with data compiled from 2004-2009 — specifically looks at schools in two groups: those with football programs and those without football programs. According to the report, “median total expenses for football schools have increased by 67 percent since 2004; total expenses for non-football schools have increased by 94 percent over the same time period.” Also, the growth of the expenses per student-athlete is only 49 percent for football schools, while non-football schools face an 81 percent increase for the same statistic.
While the report does acknowledge that football is, without a doubt, the costliest sport, these costs would be offset by revenue generated from the program. However, the MAC does not charge for regular season games, and ticket sales are a large revenue for the football games. How would our football team then be able to raise some of those lucrative funds?
Another issue at hand is the current sports programs at Etown. How would they fare against the superstar football team? While it is fairly obvious that football would draw attendance, attention and resources away from other teams, there are no statistics to support such a claim. “It is also a very expensive sport to sponsor, so it takes a big chunk out of any athletics budget, making fewer resources available for all the other sport programs,” Latimore said. “One of the reasons that all 20 of our Blue Jay sport programs are successful is that we are able to support all of our programs reasonably well. We aren’t investing an inordinate amount in one program.”
The issue certainly is one with many pros and cons, and no decision can be made without careful consideration of the benefits and disadvantages. Personally, I think it would be a good investment for Etown to add a football program to its repertoire of teams; however, this implementation should not occur until far into the future. We cannot add another team until we can improve our athletic facilities, particularly with the addition of a field house. However, if those changes are not made within the foreseeable future, Etown will find itself being passed up for other institutuons by quality students looking for a more traditional  homecoming celebration.