UT generates huge revenues for Austin

Study says home football games are worth $63 million.

Though he’s unhappy about the way the football season has begun, Texas men’s athletic director Steve Patterson said Tuesday — before Charlie Strong’s announcement that he was stripping Shawn Watson of his play-calling duties — that he wouldn’t meddle in the coach’s staff decisions.

“Look, I’m not going to coach the football team,” Patterson said. “That’s the football coach’s job.”

Patterson, who held a news conference to unveil an economic impact report commissioned by Texas athletics, said he had spoken with Strong earlier in the day.

“Obviously, nobody’s happy with how the game went,” Patterson said. “He’s probably less happy than just about everybody.”

Patterson said making staff changes is Strong’s “prerogative,” and is out of Patterson’s purview.

“It was not the performance that we’d hoped for,” Patterson said. “There was a lot of excitement going into the game. If you look at the 10,000 folks that we had at the Cubs game (on Friday) chanting ‘Texas Fight’ back and forth across the outfield. There was an awful lot of burnt orange at Notre Dame Stadium. There was an awful lot of excitement going into the game. Sometimes you have a bad day. (Notre Dame is a) real good football team, too.”

Patterson met with media to discuss the findings of an economic impact report Texas athletics commissioned six months ago. The study concluded that the athletic department and its facilities deliver more than $728 million annually to Austin and the state.

Angelou-Economics, based in Austin, conducted the study and determined that the average economic impact for a Texas home football game in 2013 was $63 million. Also, an average of 80,800 out-of-town people visited Austin for home games that season.

Patterson seemed to dodge a line of questioning about whether the study was in response to his suggestion in Septem- ber 2014 that the city of Austin should help the university foot the cost of a basketball arena to replace the Erwin Center.

Patterson’s comments — that the city had benefited from a free arena for more than 30 years — rankled public officials.

“The point was to take a look at the entirety of Texas athletics and the impact it has on the state, the region and the city,” Patterson said.

“We think it’s good to quantify those things as we try to make a decision on how to go forward with events and with how we look at facilities.”

The study said Texas athletics accounts for 5.2 percent of Austin’s $6.3 billion travel industry.

A university spokesman said the study cost the athletic department $75,000, including startup fees. Updates will cost $20,000 per year.