Saying that “In Texas you can't be a university and not have football,” Incarnate Word officials announced that the school will field the first scholarship college football program in San Antonio since the 1970s.

With businessman Tom Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints, promising at least $3 million to initially fund a campus playing facility, UIW's plan calls for a debut season in 2009, as an NCAA Division II entry.

UIW officials hope to break ground on a 3,000-seat facility in two months.

UIW officials had to scramble to come up with all the answers for how such a small school in such a confined space can absorb all the sizable components that come with a football program — everything from a playing facility, to a field house, to practice fields, to parking for spectators.

School officials said the first wave of football players is expected to arrive in the fall of 2008. If all goes according to plan, the Cardinals will debut in 2009.

The only other university in San Antonio with a football program, Trinity has phased out scholarships and competes in the NCAA nonscholarship Division III. UTSA is also exploring options to add football.

“We've been developing professional schools, graduate programs, sports programs, and this is just one more thing,” UIW President Louis Agnese said. “In Texas you can't be a university and not have football. So it was time.”

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