East Tennessee State University's proposed new athletic fee to support football will be considered next week at meeting in Franklin, according to a Tennessee Board of Regents spokesperson.

The Finance and Business Operations Committee of TBR, the governing body for ETSU, was scheduled to meet March 12 in Nashville to consider fee requests from various schools, including the $125 per student per semester fee approved by the ETSU’s Student Government Association in January.

That meeting was postponed due to member scheduling conflicts. The new meeting date was scheduled for March 27 in Franklin.

This committee must vote on the fee before it goes before the full Board for a vote. Any recommendation coming out of a Finance and Business Operations Committee meeting is not the final word.

The full Board is scheduled to meet March 29. Board members will vote on the implementation of the new fee at that time based on the recommendation of the Finance and Business Operations Committee.

This new athletic fee would generate $2.5 million for football the first year beginning this fall. After that, the fee is estimated to generate $2.8 million per year.

Should the fee be approved, ETSU would move quickly to establish a new football program. A head coach would be sought and probably hired by May. A team could be on the field by fall 2015.