Stephanie Rempe explains why Nevada's trying to invest $75 million in Wolf Pack football

Nevada athletics got some big news this week when the ASUN, the UNR student government, passed a resolution in favor of an increased student fee to help build a $25 million all-sport practice facility. Now, that proposed $3.50 per-credit athletics fee will go before the Nevada Board of Regents for approval during that group's Dec. 4-5 meeting in Las Vegas. That indoor practice facility is part of a $75 million investment plan into Wolf Pack football with Nevada attempting to pour $50 million in cash into the program over the next 10 seasons. Additionally, the Wolf Pack has plans for a potential $150 million renovation of Mackay Stadium if this initial investment turns into heightened fan enthusiasm and support.

Spearheading these efforts is Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe, who sat down with NSN for our Thanksgiving special to discuss the planned investment into football. Here is a Q&A from that conversation with the full video interview at the bottom of the story.

NSN: You guys want to put $50 million into Nevada football over the next 10 years to try and elevate that program. Tell us why this investment is necessary and how you guys came to these figures and why you're so excited about this project?

Stephanie Rempe: "I am super excited about it. I believe we're at the point where we have to go all-in. There's a reason that we didn't get invited with the Pac-2, and we have not invested in football in the last 15 years and we need to do that. We have to do it. We really are at a point where we've got a president that has a vision, and he's going to be here for several more years. We've got the right football coach. Now is the time to do it. But I think it's really important that people understand a big part of that is coming from us. We're going to take the $10 million from the Mountain West Conference with the realignment stuff and put that in there. We have a couple other things that we're doing. But we're really hoping to be able to generate that annual revenue through philanthropy, through ticket sales, through sponsorship, campus support, all of those things.

"But in order to get football where they need to be, because right now they're at the bottom of the league with competitive investment, with salaries, with all of those types of things and some of that is NIL and rev share as well, we've got to be able to put money into that program to elevate it. I really want people to understand is this is about Northern Nevada. In order for people to realize, 'OK, what does football do?' I've always said this: There is nothing out there that brings communities together, like sports. Nothing. There just isn't anything that can do that.

"And if our football team is successful, it elevates our university. When you elevate your university, you grow enrollment, you grow prestige, you grow awareness, people come to that school and that impacts the workforce. And the workforce is what companies want to come to a community where there is an R1 Carnegie Research Institution, there's a Division I football program, a community that's a college town that brings businesses here and elevates a community. And that's what we're really trying to do. We know that in order to do all those things, football has to win. You can't talk about those things when football's not winning. It doesn't bring a community together when your team's not winning. So, we know we have to do that part, and the way we do that with our coach is investing in football."

NSN: You've been at places like LSU, Texas A&M, Washington, places that have won big in football. What does winning big in football do not only for your athletic department and your university but your entire community?

Stephanie Rempe: There's no question when you get a community together and people win people continue to invest, and we talked about that a couple of days ago where you want to invest when your team is doing well. But right now, we need to invest now in order for those things to happen. So, a big push, and you've heard me talk about a lot, we are creating Nevada's College Town. And in order to do that, we need people to buy it. We need people to wear gear. We need every retail outlet in all of Northern Nevada to have Nevada things in it, whether it's Frey Ranch Whiskey or Brothers Barbecue sauce but also gear. We want people to celebrate Wolf Pack Fridays. EDAWN has been incredible supporters. They're focused on economic development. They're focused on the workforce. And they know how important the university is to that initiative. And they believe that Nevada's College Town does that, so they paid for us to put flags in every Washoe County school. There's a Nevada flag at every Washoe County school as a way to create Wolf Pack Fridays. And we believe if you do that, it elevates the community, elevates the university and lots of great things happen."

NSN: What's been the reaction as you unveiled this to some of the top boosters, some of the top friends of the program, the message that you want to make this big jump and you don't want to wait for the success to happen before investing but you want to spark that success with an initial investment?

Stephanie Rempe: "It's been interesting because a lot of those people have been around for a long time. And one thing I guess I didn't realize is we haven't done a good enough job of showing where we are. At the meeting that you're talking about, we showed the data, and it showed how we're at the bottom of the league for competitive investment, for ticket prices, for season-ticket sales, all of those things. I think they understand that we need to do that. I think most people if you have any time with Coach Choate, you understand he has a vision and he's going to work his tail off and he's building something pretty special. And so I think there's a desire to support that."

NSN: Why is the time right right now? You mentioned Brian Sandoval, the UNR president, who is a huge supporter of athletics. You have a new head coach in Jeff Choate, and while this year's record is not great, clearly there Wolf Pack is better in football than we've seen the last couple of years. And then you've been here a couple of years and gotten a lay of the land.

Stephanie Rempe: "I think it's probably all of those things. You needed certain things to align to be able to go all-in and feel like you can deliver on a vision, and this community wants to see it. They want to see that there is a sustainable foundation, and that's what we haven't had. When you have President Sandoval, who's done everything that he has for Northern Nevada, he's been here for four years, he has four more years left on his contract, we are able to do special things. And one of the things that I think also is important is what the university is doing in this community in terms of the business building, the hotel and conference center, the health lab, the parcels of land that they bought on the other side of the freeway to help elevate that part of the university village type of concept. All of those things are investments close to $300 million the university is putting into the development of this community. And so when you have all of those things going and you have the right football coach, the time is now. Absolutely. And I think it was a wake-up call not only with the data but also with the splitting of the league. I think people realize, 'Wow,' and when you look at our infrastructure for football, we're way behind."

NSN: When you talk about the investment that's gone into the university and even on the athletic side, there's been a lot of progress. Not so much on football, though, and obviously that is the sport that can grow the most in terms of creating revenue and finances for your department. When you talk about facilities in football, you always talk about the indoor fieldhouse. That's something that has been on the wish list for a couple of decades well before you were here. It seems like there's been some movement on trying to get an indoor all-sport facility. What is the latest on that?

Stephanie Rempe: We're super excited right now. We're kind of at a critical time. We have two individuals that work for Tolles Development that have out of the goodness of their heart in a passion project spent a year and a half working on this project. We did raise some money for the design, but Tolles Development has been shepherding this for no cost to them. They both are Nevada grads and all of that. We are at the point where we have an incredibly efficient but very well designed indoor facility that we believe we can get the indoor and both intramural fields — Wolf Pack Park and John Sala Field — all of that done for $25 million, which is remarkable. And we've been talking about it for a long time. This summer we decided that we were going to go for student fees. We have been talking a lot to the ASUN leadership group. We met with lots of senators, with the president, vice president, with the speaker. We went and presented to ASUN, and we are hoping that they will support this project. Then on Dec. 4 and 5, it's going to the Board of Regents. Our hope is that we can get support.

"We will raise some of the money and then also student fees. And if we are able to do that, as we said to the students, this has been talked about for 25, 30 years, and this is an opportunity where we can get something like that done that impacts all students. So it's intramurals, it's club, it's the band, it's cheerleaders, it's our teams, it's ROTC, and we would also have an open period of time where any student can come and use that facility. The fitness center has been very supportive of it because it's another piece that gets students out moving and active for mental health, physical health, all of those types of things. Because we are one of 12 schools out of 134 FBS schools that don't have an indoor, and all the other 11 are either in California or in the South.

"We're at a huge disadvantage. People ask Coach Choate when they're here on a recruiting visit, 'Where do you practice when it's snowing?' Those are things that we have to get that done, and because of Tolles Development, we would do it in a nontraditional way. So, we're saving money through some efficiencies. It's similar to how the business building is done in terms of the financing. We have a moment in time where we can we can get something done, but we really need the students to support it, obviously our community to support it. People have been waiting for this for a long time, and if we can if we could kick that off, it'd be pretty special."

NSN: Obviously that'd be a legacy building, a legacy facility that's put in place. And I know long terms you guys are even looking at Mackay Stadium, potentially a $150 million renovation of that stadium. There are some great artist renderings and pictures of that. But long term, you're eyeing that and trying to increase the ability to get revenue out of Mackey Stadium, which has been difficult during really the last couple of tenures of athletic directors.

Stephanie Rempe: "It's difficult for a number of reasons. One, I know everybody talks about game time and also the success of our program, and it's been up and down for the last ever since Chris Ault stepped down. And so the hard part about Mackay Stadium, and everybody in college sports now, is people want to have an experience when they go. And right now our premium spaces are sold out, so we're sold out in club and loge and suites, which is fabulous. So then the rest of the opportunities to grow revenue is in the general seats, which we need to do. We have to grow those tickets, but we need to figure out a way to create more premium space because that's how the revenue gets going. There's a lot of phasing we can do to start to impact Mackay Stadium, but that's a huge priority because that's how you grow the revenue. But we need to have the winning. We need to have the season ticket base increase. And then when you know that people will pay to have a premium experience, that's what you can actually get the revenue because you can bond that based on them committing to filling up those premium spaces."

NSN: I know you guys have stressed this is not at the expense of Nevada men's basketball. There are obviously two revenue sports on most campuses at the Division I level in football and men's basketball. Men's basketball has been fantastic in terms of winning and creating revenue for the Nevada Wolf Pack over the last two decades. But this is something to help also elevate men's basketball, too, if football has success, right?

Stephanie Rempe: "100 percent, and I'm glad you brought that up because our men's basketball program has done what we all want to do. They are the team that has been so successful. When you look at the data, we have invested as a department in men's basketball, and the direct result is the success that we've had. We've also had a coach that's now going into his sixth season. That's a big part of this. We need consistency. We need the foundation just like what Steve Alford has done. And so we need to continue to invest in basketball so we don't go backward there. And obviously with the GSR Arena coming up pretty soon, we're really excited about that. Our team is doing so well this year. I'm really excited about the direction of that program. I think it's really important people understand we need to invest in both. It is not at the expense of one or the other."

NSN: What most excites you about this $50 million over the next 10 years you guys are trying to invest into football?

Stephanie Rempe: "That it's possible. I absolutely believe it's possible. We want to prove to the community that it's possible and if they can continue to support it, we will all reap the benefits. I really do believe that we can pull this off."

You can watch the full interview with Stephanie Rempe below.