Bob Owen | 210SA contributor

Football has scored big at UTSA.

The UTSA Student Government Association announced Sept. 14 that its peers had authorized by a 2-1 voting ratio a 100 percent increase in athletics fees to fund a higher-caliber program.

Effectively, the vote has boosted a plan to have the Roadrunners start a football program at the Alamodome by 2010 or 2011. However, the vote doesn't mean UTSA definitely will field a football team.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents, which has the final say on increasing student fees, likely won't even see the school's proposal until early next year.

The fact that UTSA is even pondering Division I football is proof positive that it is bent on blossoming from a little-known commuter college into a full-fledged campus with a national reputation.

Football isn't the only road to that goal. Attracting top-notch faculty, a bigger endowment, more degree programs and more on-campus housing also are key ingredients. But even non-boosters recognize the unique power of football to generate school spirit, energize alumni and attract national attention.

“We're right at that borderline,” Courtney Horn, a 20-year-old sophomore from Corpus Christi, said before the vote. “One more thing and we are going to be huge, one of the best universities in the state. I think the football would do it.”

What surprised even the referendum supporters was the voter turnout: a school-record 4,602 students participated in the online election earlier this month. It represented a 16 percent turnout of a student body that's now listed at 28,688.

The referendum passed with 3,031 students voting for and 1,571 against, with 65.9 percent supporting an enhanced athletics program.

The plan also calls for UTSA to move into a Division I-A conference within the next decade. It also opens the door to upgrade the other 16 sports to a higher level of competition.

And UTSA isn't the only local school gearing up for football. In April, Incarnate Word officials announced that the school will field a scholarship football team.

With businessman Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, has promised 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.

The UTSA student vote gave administrators the go-ahead to raise fees for athletics from the current $120 per semester to as much as $240 per semester. The fee increases would be in increments of no more than $24 per semester.

Regan Burks, a 19-year-old who plays on the women's basketball team, thinks it's worth it.

“I voted yes so that we can move up and so it looks good whenever I get a job and I say I'm from UTSA,” she said. “It will be that impressive.”

Melissa Ludwig and Jerry Briggs | 210SA contributors