Chicago currently has no university major football teams in the NCAA, with the exception of the University of Chicago's NCAA Division III Independent team and Northwestern University's football program, which is in Evanston, not Chicago. Our rival, Robert Morris University, has a team that plays in the NAIA, but holds games outside city limits. Robert Morris is also about half the size of Roosevelt.
If you can't get to a Chicago Bears game, then you can't see live football in the city limits. Nationally, other universities have recently re-introduced football into their athletic programs, which is a source of revenue and nation-wide prestige. New football programs include Old Dominion University, Robert Morris University, Georgia State University and Concordia University. There were seven new teams in 2014 alone. Schools much smaller than Roosevelt, such as Baker University, a school less than half our size, has a football team.
Though a Roosevelt University team would likely start as a club team and then go on to the NAIA, we would be poised to be the first real NCAA football team in the city of Chicago. We also have the advantage of being the only university in Chicago to ever host the NFL draft, which happened in April and May this year.
The NFL draft is at our university, yet neither our city nor our school has a NCAA football team. Although our other teams play in the NAIA, we have the potential to have a powerhouse football team as our university grows.
A football team at Roosevelt would attract not only more national talent, but young Chicagoans as well who are currently leaving the city to go downstate or out of state.
A football team would put Roosevelt University and the city of Chicago on the national stage for university football and would attract more students.
A team is ultimately inevitable. The want is there and the need is there. It will happen eventually, why not now, why not be a part of history.
If you can't get to a Chicago Bears game, then you can't see live football in the city limits. Nationally, other universities have recently re-introduced football into their athletic programs, which is a source of revenue and nation-wide prestige. New football programs include Old Dominion University, Robert Morris University, Georgia State University and Concordia University. There were seven new teams in 2014 alone. Schools much smaller than Roosevelt, such as Baker University, a school less than half our size, has a football team.
Though a Roosevelt University team would likely start as a club team and then go on to the NAIA, we would be poised to be the first real NCAA football team in the city of Chicago. We also have the advantage of being the only university in Chicago to ever host the NFL draft, which happened in April and May this year.
The NFL draft is at our university, yet neither our city nor our school has a NCAA football team. Although our other teams play in the NAIA, we have the potential to have a powerhouse football team as our university grows.
A football team at Roosevelt would attract not only more national talent, but young Chicagoans as well who are currently leaving the city to go downstate or out of state.
A football team would put Roosevelt University and the city of Chicago on the national stage for university football and would attract more students.
A team is ultimately inevitable. The want is there and the need is there. It will happen eventually, why not now, why not be a part of history.