“Show me the money!”

Right about now, that is what the athletic department is saying after the Special Fees Committee proposed that the athletic department receive $39,000 in student fees rather than the $130,000 that was originally promised to it.

The vote over the proposal was scheduled for yesterday, which included a vote of changes passed by the Government of the Student Body Senate.

According to the proposal, of the $4.66 increase in student fees slated for next year, only 75 cents will be appropriated to the athletic department.

However, this is breaking the original agreement the committee made, which implemented this plan two years ago when the financially troubled athletic department was considering to drop several nonrevenue sports.

Athletic department officials were quoted in the Daily on April 1 as saying that the possibility of this happening again hasn’t been considered yet.

Graduate Student Senate President Kevin Ragland said in the same article that the construction of a new press box at Jack Trice Stadium (Man, I love that name!) and the planned artificial turf practice field was evidence that the athletic department did not get all $130,000 of the students’ money.

Athletic officials said otherwise, saying that the funding for the projects came from private donations and projected revenues from the leasing of the sky boxes. Since it is apparent that the proposal will pass by the committee in its vote yesterday, the athletic department, if it wishes to keep its same level of funding for its projects, will have to come up with an alternative way to get the money.

What better way to do this than to reach back to the past and get the help of some distinguished former players. For example, in football, whatever NFL team drafts running back/stud Troy Davis in a couple of weeks, could play a preseason exhibition game right here in Ames at Trice Stadium (still love the name!).

Think about this. This could really be cool. TD’s pro team, say for example, the Minnesota Vikings, horror of horrors, could play former ISU player Keith Sims and the Miami Dolphins right here in August. I think these players as well as the prospect of something resembling NFL football here in central Iowa could bring in the bucks. The other big revenue sport, basketball, could really clean up.

This one is really juicy: Sometime in October, during the NBA preseason run of non-pro areas such as Central Iowa, we could have former ISU standout Fred Hoiberg and the Indiana Pacers versus his former teammate Loren Meyer and the Phoenix Suns at Hilton Coliseum.

It could happen. Heck, they’ve had preseason games at the Devaney Center in Lincoln and da Bulls were at Carver-Hawkeye Arena a few years ago. So Hilton Coliseum, as one of the premiere basketball arenas in the country, could definitely hold the excitement of an NBA game with the former stars right here in Ames. This could be fun.

But, either way you see it, the athletic department, in my opinion, is still getting screwed in this deal.

ROB DANIEL is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Zion, Ill..