Saint Louis University Football Billiken Concept/courtesy by EASports

Three years ago, I wrote an article about why Saint Louis University should add College Football back to its Athletic Program. According to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, 777 colleges and universities nationwide now offer football programs from across all NCAA divisions, the NAIA, and independent schools, with four new programs launching this fall and nine more on the way. 51 programs were added between 2014 and 2024.

“The growth we’re seeing reflects more than just love for the game — it’s proof of football’s unique ability to inspire young people to pursue higher education,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. “When a campus adds football, it creates new opportunities for students, strengthens community bonds, and energizes school spirit in a way few things can match.”

It’s a very sticky suggestion because of the cost and the possibility of adding women’s scholarships in sports to ensure Title IX compliance. Starting a College Football Program from scratch in the Bowl Subdivision is estimated to cost around $75 million to start an FBS program from scratch, as cited by CBS Sports. Now, unless there are multi-billionaires that are willing to contribute to help start a College Football program at Saint Louis University in the Bowl Subdivision, I don’t think Chris May, who’s the Athletic Director, would want to spend that kind of money like that and risk cutting other sports programs. But there is another way; to start an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team costs tens of millions of dollars in startup costs and millions of dollars annually.

It’s 10 million dollars to start an FCS, and annual costs are $1 million. The price of the Equipment alone will run around $200,000 per year, plus a significant portion of the annual budget goes to coaches, which the salaries alone can cost over $1 million per year, with the median likely being closer to $2 million. The cost for uniforms and other gear can be substantial, potentially costing a couple of hundred thousand dollars per year and traveling costs between $50,000 and $100,000 per trip, depending on the destination and number of players. The biggest successful college football story going right now is The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), which it’s in its inaugural season and is currently having a winning season at 5-2 in the Southland Conference. The football program is currently having a positive economic impact on the region and provides more opportunities for student-athletes, which has created more than 250 new opportunities for student involvement. Their current stadium seats 12,000, and they have enjoyed the Football atmosphere with sellout games played there.

Chicago State University plans to launch its football program in 2026 in the Northeast Conference Football Championship Subdivision. The reason provides more opportunities for student-athletes and creates more than 250 new opportunities for student involvement. FCS programs are currently limited to just 63 football scholarships and have no roster cap, which allows walk-ons to their programs. Now, if Saint Louis University doesn’t want to offer football scholarships, then why not join The Pioneer Football League that which is the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conference, and is headquartered in St. Louis. The non-scholarship model allows these colleges to compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship, and focus on academics and using other forms of financial aid for their student-athletes. At the same time, travel costs can be expensive due to the league’s expanded geography, the PFL’s non-scholarship model helps offset those costs, along with the other rising expenses of a scholarship football program, such as support staff and facilities.   

A SLU football program would be an ideal potential rivalry against Lindenwood University, which is currently playing in the Ohio Valley Conference of the FCS along with Southeast Missouri State and Eastern Illinois. SLU would also be an ideal rival against Illinois State and Southern Illinois, that is in the Missouri Valley Conference and are also headquartered in St. Louis. If they do decide to bring college football back, they could either share the stadium with St. Louis City FC’s Energize Field, which could be the home of the Battlehawks, or build a 14,000-seat football stadium and share it with the Battlehawks. Now I know it would be a hard sell for Athletic Director Chris May, but adding a college football program at Saint Louis University would be worth having and would be fun on Saturdays during the fall. After all, I don’t see the NFL coming to St. Louis.