Students approve fee increase in UTSA's first step toward football team

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SAN ANTONIO -- Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio have voted to increase student-paid athletics fees to support an eventual football program at the school.

The results of this week's vote, announced Thursday, mean student athletic fees may incrementally increase from a maximum of $120 per semester to a maximum of $240 a semester. While the money will generally go to improvements for the school's athletics programs, the vote also is a first step toward eventually creating a football team.

Almost 66 percent of the 4,600 votes cast were in favor of the increase.

The NCAA Division I school, with an enrollment of nearly 29,000 students, already sponsors 16 sports.

Marianne McBride Lewis, a university spokeswoman, said the earliest the school could have a team is 2010, but that's "really optimistic."

She said to create a team the school will need additional financial support from outside donors, since tuition money and state funding can't be used for athletics.

The school's administration and the University of Texas System Board of Regents still each has to approve the increase. The first incremental increase could go into effect next fall, Lewis said.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

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