On Feb. 28, UTSA Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lisa Campos announced that UTSA would be spending $57 million on new athletic facilities; the first of which would be for basketball and volleyball. Although her announcement included almost no details specifically about the building, it highlighted important details of these projects’ financial aspects.
Campos’ announcement explains that about $2.5 million of the $57 million total came as donations from alumni, possibly meant to be used specifically for this purpose. However, her explanation for the other $54.5 million is ticket sales for sports games and miscellaneous fundraising. Campos continues by stating how these buildings will facilitate further enrichment of other sports programs while going on to highlight some of UTSA’s recent sports achievements, including winning the first bowl game in the program’s history and the school’s NCAA graduation rating reaching a new high of 89%. The vice president’s announcement closes with her reinforcing the importance of a university’s athletic programs and their ability to increase the prestige of the institution, also adding the fact that since her arrival five years ago, the athletic budget has increased by about 50% and thanking president Taylor Eighmy for his leadership.
When assessing the quality of a university, it is common for the performance of the school’s sports teams to be similarly as high as grades. Since UTSA is an up-and-coming university, spending money to upgrade or build new facilities is necessary. However, there are many ways $54.5 million can be used to improve a university. Potential alternative uses for that money could be additional parking, permanently fixing recurring issues in dorms or other programs that can benefit students more broadly.
The UTSA administration should be more heavily scrutinized over its use of funds, given the fact that there are many other potential uses for tens of millions of dollars that could benefit the student population more evenly and directly. The $54.5 million collected to be used for sports facilities should not be reallocated simply because other issues exist. Alternatively, some of the sources of funding used to collect that money can be diverted to other projects, and the methods used to raise funds can be replicated specifically for other purposes; because if this amount of money can be raised for sports facilities, it stands to reason that a similar amount of money can be used to improve the quality of life at UTSA.
