Texas AD Chris Del Conte said that the school will incur almost $30M “in new costs for the athletic department because of pending revenue-sharing laws and 200 new scholarships with increased limits across all sports,” according to Kirk Bohls of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Del Conte said that the school will “grow their number of scholarships” to 466 at a cost of $9.2M and also pay out $20.5M annually to “all athletes once the House settlement is announced this spring.” But he said that Texas “will implement those raised scholarships over three years.” Del Conte added that “ticket prices will rise $13 a game, or $80 over the course of the season.” Season ticket renewals began yesterday.
Del Conte also touched on the following topics during his annual town hall:
- In replacement of the spring football game, there will be a “Football Fan Day on April 26, which will include interactive booths as well as time for autographs and photographs.”
- The football stadium’s press box “will be moved to the south end zone.”
- The school will “go more to grab-and-go concessions on the east side of Royal-Memorial Stadium.”
- Parking at football games will be “difficult” next season, in part, because the Martin Luther King bridge over Interstate 35 will be “taken down over the next three weeks.”
- The new indoor and outdoor football facility under construction south of the stadium “will be completed by June 2026.”
- Renovations for the softball and baseball stadiums “remain” Del Conte’s “top priority.”
- Rumors that “he’d follow” outgoing Texas President Jay Hartzell to SMU. Del Conte: “I ain’t going to SMU. Who wants to ride a pony?” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/26).
