By Meredith Lyverse
This summer, Bellarmine announced its plan to add sprint football to its sports roster.
Sprint football is like traditional football except for the 178-pound weight limit.
“I’m unclear on how they came to that number, but it’s the only difference,” head coach Harold Davis said. “It’s played like any other high school or college football.”
Bellarmine historically has more female students. Assistant AD of Communication, John Spugnardi, said the university hopes the football team will increase make enrollment and boost overall school morale.
“Increasing student enrollment is one of the primary objectives of Bellarmine’s strategic plan, and through discussions with colleagues at other schools, starting sprint football emerged as a viable option to help with the objective,” Spugnardi said. “It also should help enhance the entire student life experience by giving Knights Nation another athletic team.”
There are no estimates for how much the addition will cost the school yet, but part of the appeal for school officials is that it won’t cost as much as other sports.
“It doesn’t require the university to make the sizable financial commitment of starting a Division I program,” Spugnardi said.
Knights Media Network reached out to the Naval Academy to get information about budgets for a sprint football team, but Academy officials declined to comment.
“As a private organization, the Naval Academy Athletic Association is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act,” chief financial officer Colleen Jordan said.
However, the Naval Academy is listed as a public institution by U.S. News “Best Colleges” publication, which states, “United States Naval Academy is a public institution that was founded in 1845. Forbes.com also lists the Academy as a public institution. The Academy’s own website, usna.edu cites its rank in the 2019 edition of U.S. News “Best Colleges” as the No. 1 “top public school.”
The emphasis, however, is not on the money but the opportunity it will give students to play football in college or attend a new kind of sporting event.
“We already have about eight students who are interested in the team, and we’re recruiting at high schools in Kentucky and Indiana,” Davis said.
Spugnardi said interest in the sport is growing, which is why the university will join five other schools as a founder of the Midwest Sprint Football League.
“Sprint football is seeing its largest single-year expansion of the sport in nearly 90 years,” Spugnardi said.
The league allows up to 80 players team, but the school doesn’t anticipate that many people to sign up in the first season.
“Our target is to have half that, 40 players next year,” Davis said.
The practice facility is located at 3408 Newburg Road and will be shared with the wrestling and field hockey teams. There are no plans for an official playing field yet.
“There will be a weight room and training room in there,” Davis said. “It’s actually a neat facility and I’m anxious for them to get started on it [the facility].”
Students are showing interest in attending sprint football games too. Senior Ethan Purdy said he would consider going.
“I would go just to say I’ve been to a Bellarmine football game,” Purdy said.
As someone who enjoys sports, Purdy said he’s curious about how the weight limit will affect the game.
“I’ve been watching football for as long as I can remember,” Purdy said. “I’ll be interested to see how that changed the strategy of the game and the importance of different positions.”
“I think the biggest challenge will be getting offensive lineman. Most players at that weight are skill position players,” Davis said. “Also, the game should be faster with mainly skill players at every position.”
To see student reactions to the sprint football announcement, click here.
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