College Football: Why Liberty is paying $1.32 million for Old Dominion game
By Zach Bigalke
3. A growing student body is increasing enthusiasm for Flames sports
Since its founding nearly a half-century ago, Liberty University has slowly grown into the largest evangelical Christian university in the world. Last fall, the largest incoming class of freshmen in school history increased the resident population on the Lynchburg campus to around 15,000 undergraduate students. The school also offers academic services to another 6,800 graduate students and more than 100,000 students through its online programs.
Liberty football has nowhere near the history or success rate of a school like Notre Dame or BYU, the other two independent Christian campuses that play at the FBS level. But its enrollment is higher than Notre Dame, and catching up to BYU. It outpaces other religious universities like Baylor, TCU, and SMU in that regard as well.
Bringing a fellow FBS member to Lynchburg for the first home game of the program’s FBS history is not unreasonable for Liberty at any cost. With tuition alone costing the average undergraduate over $22,000 per academic year, the fee being paid to Old Dominion amounts to the annual tuition of fewer than 60 of those incoming freshmen. Helping to legitimize the football program’s status in front of a growing student body is worth the up-front ridicule.