The costs of operating Pace football and their effectiveness on the field poses a legitimate question: Do we need a football team?

Football failed to win a single game this season, have a negative record of 4-78 (.049 winning percentage) over the last eight seasons, and haven’t had more than one win since 2008 (4-6 overall).

The Pace Chronicle website ran a survey in September if Pace needs a football team. Of the  34 who answered the survey, 18 people voted to get rid of the team, 12 voted to keep the team, and four voted that they do not care about Pace athletics.

Student Alondra Castro has grown frustrated with the team’s poor performance since she came to Pace.

“I hate how they can never win a game,” Castro said.” I have never even been to a game before just because they can’t even win a single game.”

Besides from not winning, the athletic department still has to finance this team and no other team at Pace spends as much as the football team.

Athletics spent $1,710,855 on the football program in 2014. Pace’s total expenses for that year were $9,032,310, so the football team accounts for more than any other sport at Pace, according ope.ed.gov.

Athletic Director Mark Brown believes this spending is a necessity due to the traveling expenses for the team.

“The travel budget ends up what really drives the majority of the budget,” Brown said. “Transporting 80 football players to New Hampshire for a game is a lot more expensive than the cross country team to run in a race.”

Football has the biggest roster than any other program and the amount is also a factor in the team’s spending, according to Associate Athletic Director for Operations Mike Winn.

With all the spending done for the team, the athletic department makes a profit on the team.

In 2014, the team’s revenue was $1,710,957, so the profit for the athletic department was $102.

The year before that the athletic department broke even with the football team.

But the profit is irrelevant to the athletic department. The goal of the athletic department is to engage athletics with the Pace community.

“It is a way to engage alumni, a way to create school spirit, and create events on campus,” Winn said. “Three of the five biggest events on campus are the home football games.”

Despite another losing season, Brown is still confident that Head Coach Andrew Rondeau can guide the program in the winning direction.

Brown also has not entertained the idea of dropping down to Division III because they would not be allowed to recruit kids on scholarships, and it would be very difficult for Pace to join a D-III conference in the area.