Wesleyan revives football program

They will build it and they will come, or so Texas Wesleyan University hopes.

Rams football will return to Wesleyan for the first time in 75 years, slated to begin in fall 2017 as a member of the NAIA Central States Football League.

“We know that most college-bound high school students view football as an integral part of their college experience,” President Frederick Slabach said in a news conference.

There might be some validity to that idea, and it could bring more enrollment as Wesleyan rounds out its football experience with the addition of a marching band program and an expansion on the existing cheerleading and athletics trainer programs.

A women’s lacrosse program will also be added.

A university with a football team could be more enticing to an aspiring college student, especially in Texas, but Wesleyan needs to be cautious with the toll the “college experience” can take.

Slabach claims the football team will be self-funded by the additional tuition from new students, but he didn’t give a start-up cost.

The football team program has merits but the university shouldn’t lose sight of its non-football-playing students’ needs and “college experience.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Wesleyan revives football program."