UALR picks firm for football study
The same Texas-based company that is studying the future of War Memorial Stadium has been selected separately to study the possibility of starting a college football program that would occupy the venue.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced Monday it has selected Conventions, Sports & Leisure of Plano, Texas, to conduct a feasibility study that could result in the rebirth of a football program that played its final season in 1955.
The selection still needs the approval of the Arkansas Legislative Council, which will review the contract Wednesday and Friday.
The proposed contract, according to documents provided by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, states recommendations and a results report must be submitted no later than six months after the contract is awarded.
The projected cost is $125,000, which is a higher estimate than the “under $100,000” figure provided by UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson in July.
UALR would pay $53,000 with private funds, with Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and the city of Little Rock splitting the remaining $71,500.
Parks and Tourism Director Kane Webb said his department would foot $30,000 of that split.
If the selection is approved, Convention Sports & Leisure would lead three other firms — CarrSports Consulting, Heery Sports and The Grant Group — in determining whether a football team and marching band “would be a fiscal and meaningful addition” to the campus and surrounding community, UALR said in a statement.
Rogerson and UALR Athletic Director Chasse Conque were both unavailable for comment, and university communications representative Judy Williams said the administration is “trying not to influence the decision of the council.”
Parks and Tourism already agreed in May to pay Conventions, Sports & Leisure $160,000 in trust funds for the War Memorial feasibility study, which project manager Michael Miller said could produce preliminary results by the end of the year.
Webb said the two studies “happened organically apart” and that a Conventions, Sports & Leisure representative “called and asked if I had an issue with them bidding on the contract.”
“Beyond that, I thought it would be appropriate that I stay out of it,” Webb said.
The War Memorial feasibility study came after the state voted in February to give the department control of the venue and dissolve the War Memorial Stadium commission.
Then in July, UALR announced that a student-led petition of 1,000 signatures led to its decision to look into bringing back a football program.
“We have two issues going on,” Webb said. “What do we do with the stadium on its own, with multiple tenants? What other events can we have there? And for [UALR], deciding whether to have a football program. And if they do, I hope they would stay at the stadium.”
According to the Professional Consultant Services Contract that will be viewed by the legislative council, Conventions, Sports & Leisure International would conduct the football study “in coordination with the War Memorial Stadium feasibility study” and provide 10-year projection scenarios “based on potential revenue, potential enrollment impact, economic impact on the city of Little Rock, alumni involvement” and comparisons with other collegiate athletic departments that don’t have a football program.
The company was selected over three others: Brailsford & Dunlavey and Conventions, College Sports Solutions and Collegiate Consulting.
Conventions, Sports & Leisure International conducted the feasibility studies that led North Dakota State to move its athletic program up from NCAA Division II to Division I, and that led Sun Belt Conference member Georgia Southern to move its football program from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision.
CarrSports provided the study that led to the 2012 birth of a football program at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the 2014 death of the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s football program.
Heery Sports focuses mainly on constructing facilities, and The Grant Group specializes in the Title IX-Gender Equality laws that UALR would need to meet with the creation of a football program.