The Associated Students 75th Senate passed a resolution last Wednesday promising to begin the process of instating a Division I intercollegiate football team at UC Santa Barbara. Several senators held reservations about allocating funding for the program.
The bill suggests incorporating football-related infrastructure, like renovations to Harder Stadium in order to accommodate football, into the plan. Courtesy of Santa Barbara Independent
UCSB was previously home to the football team the Roadrunners, established in 1921. The team was renamed to the Gauchos in 1934. Several players were drafted for the National Football League, including Johnny Morris to the Chicago Bears in 1958 and David Chapple to the San Francisco 49ers in 1969.
In 1985, UCSB alum Gary Rhodes and Brad Tisdale led a project to create a Division Ⅲ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football team funded by a lock-in fee voted on by the student body. In 1992, the fee failed a vote for reaffirmation, thereby putting an end to UCSB football.
The resolution aims to propel the new chancellor — who has yet to be appointed after current Chancellor Henry T. Yang announced he would step down this year — and the next Associated Students (A.S.) president to take on the project. It asks them to secure investors and create a new student lock-in fee to fund an NCAA team.
The project aims to “elevate the stature” of UCSB, establish a new source of monetary gain for campus services and “unite the campus community behind a collective identity,” according to the resolution.
Third-year political science and philosophy double major and Off-Campus Senator Dan Siddiqui authored the resolution alongside fourth-year psychological & brain sciences major and Off-Campus Senator Leiya Kadah. With University of California (UC) President Michael V. Drake and Yang both stepping down this year, Siddiqui and Kadah believe UCSB is in a unique position to make large institutional changes.
Additionally, a new Long Range Development Plan (LRDP)— a contract between UCSB, Santa Barbara County and the city of Goleta that addresses land use, recreational facilities, student enrollment, housing and more — will be drafted by campus administration this year, as the maximum limit of 15 years has passed since the 2010 LRDP was drafted.
The bill suggests incorporating football-related infrastructure, like renovations to Harder Stadium in order to accommodate football, into the plan.
“This resolution is simply calling for specifically, the next president and the next team of executives to contact former UCSB Board of Trustees members and alumni to examine past proposals to bring football back to UCSB, understand why they failed and meet with our new and incoming administration to see if this is something … that could start off right now,” Siddiqui said.
The plan aims to put UCSB athletics in line with other leading public universities. Of the 10 UC campuses, UC Los Angeles, UC Berkeley and UC Davis have Division I football teams. Siddiqui said a football program could help bring in additional revenue to UCSB.
“If you look at other schools, especially schools with successful football teams, it brings in a huge base of donor money and alumni money,” Siddiqui said.
College football teams can bring in significant revenue for university campuses. UCLA made $11.6 million in ticket-sale revenue in 2024 and the University of Southern California made $19.7 million in 2022. However, they can also lose campuses money, as schools such as UC Berkeley and Stanford consistently have athletic departments with significant budget deficits.
In comparison, the total revenue of all UCSB athletic programs combined was $27 million in 2023. This was compared to about $27.5 million in operating costs.
Siddiqui and Kadah presented the proposal at the Feb. 12 Senate meeting. While the resolution passed with 14 votes in favor, seven votes against and two abstentions, several senators questioned the feasibility and importance of the plan.
Some senators, including third-year history major Enri Lala and fourth-year economics and communication double major Taylor Iden, said other athletic teams on campus are met with minimal funding and resources from the University. They questioned the necessity of putting energy into a new football team rather than supporting current student athletes.
“The most important thing that I heard was the issues that folks on other teams feel with constant underfunding, underappreciation of their sports, lack of attention to them, things of that nature,” Lala said. “Wouldn’t all these resources be put to better use by better equipping, better funding, better supporting and better appreciating the teams that are already here?”
Other senators voiced reservations concerning funneling money into a football team, with the cost of tuition rising and basic needs such as housing and food security left unmet for many students. Fourth-year sociology major Jasmine Amin said she is against adding new lock-in fees to student tuition. Fourth-year history of art and architecture and anthropology double major and Senator Caroline Lankarani said the senate should prioritize more pressing issues first.
“I feel like asking for funding for a football team, while a good portion of our students struggle to find and maintain housing, just feels kind of like a punch in the face,” Lankarani said. “Maybe we should focus on other issues before we focus on a football team.”
Siddiqui said he wanted to make sure that the program would benefit UCSB students and aid in funding the University and its other athletic departments. He said the plan is “just a proposal” and needs to be fully fleshed out before it is put into action.
“I think our intention with any football team would be to see first and foremost if it is something long-term that will bring in a profit for the university because that way we can actually use it to fund our other athletics departments and other services on campus,” he said. “We want to make sure that this proposal is something that will actually be beneficial for students, and that’s why it’s just a proposal.”
Kadah said she also believes a football team would boost school spirit and give students an outlet to express their love for their school.
“I think people do have so much love for this school, so much love for Isla Vista, and giving them a football team is a way to foster that sense of school spirit,” she said.
She also said that football is a “quintessential part of the American college experience”– a part that UCSB currently lacks.
Internal Vice President and fourth-year art major Açúcar Pinto opposed the resolution. They referenced Article 2 of the Student Bill of Rights, which states all students have the right to be free from violence and that the sport “disproportionately affects” the health of Black students, as chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a common byproduct of football-related injuries, and that UCSB’s “colonizer” mascot is the reason behind a perceived lack of school spirit.
“The reason why we probably don’t have school spirit is because our mascot is a colonizer that has literally killed my ancestors as well as a lot of people throughout Central and South America,” Pinto said.
The term Gaucho references a South American cowboy, typically associated with the grasslands of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. While often romanticized as a folk hero archetype, some argue that this idealization overlooks the colonial violence experienced by Indigenous communities in the region.
Costs to begin a new UCSB football program are currently unknown, however, Wichita State University — a school then hoping to begin their own Division I program — estimated costs to be around $75 million. This price tag includes things like stadium renovations, building of facilities and administrative and salary costs.
Siddiqui acknowledged the high costs of establishing a program and stated the school would need investments to get it off the ground. He said the new chancellor could make the program a reality in the next decade.
“The issue with starting up a football team anywhere is the huge onset costs. And so that’s why I think the next chancellor, you’d have to find an investor to make initial renovations to Harder Stadium, and it would have to be some sort of Angel gift. But I think if you get a really good chancellor in there who can fundraise, I think it can become a reality in five to 10 years,” Siddiqui said.
Kadah spoke about the prospect of creating new social opportunities for UCSB students to interact with each other through football games.
“There already is such a beautiful and like fostering environment in Isla Vista, where people often just are looking for any excuse to come out and be in community with their peers, and I think for those who struggle a bit more to, like, get out of their shell, like, this is an easier way for them to go and be like, ‘Oh, like, do you want to just come to the football game with me?’” she said.
Siddiqui articulated his vision for a Saturday football game day in I.V.
“Isla Vista is already such a vibrant, energetic community, and people are already always out on a Saturday or Sunday, whether it’s on the beach or an I.V., getting food or just hanging out. And I think seeing that crazy amount of people lining up ready to go to Harder Stadium, all decked out in their UCSB football jerseys, I think it would just complete the essence of Isla Vista and the beauty of this college town and what we are as a campus,” he said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 4 of the Feb. 20, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
Acucar is ridiculous. What a self-centered & crazy thing to say.
hi
There is no possible way that the UCSB Athletic Dept saw ‘revenue’ of 27 million in 2023. Funding which is afforded to the dept from campus fees and the like is not revenue. The program is in the red every year and cannot afford to operate as is. UCSB should not be Div I at this juncture as the millions that is allocated every year is ridiculous.
PLUS a new pool is needed. Use of the Rec Cen by teams must stop. They have taken over and are highly disruptive to students that want to swim.
Pinto’s comments are incredibly insightful and relevant.