UTRGV is building their first ever football program from the ground up.

They won't officially start competing until the 2025 season, but they are still working hard off the field to get there. 

"We were going through our student referendum last year, and we found a press release from, I believe 1971, one PAN-AM student at our legacy institution, had voted to support football," UTRGV Athletic Director Chase Conque said. "There was a fee associated with their vote. At that time, they did not support the fee aspect of it, but they certainly wanted football on campus."

The fee that comes with adding the football program increases to $11.25 a credit hour. 

UTRGV's Senior Associate AD o Business Operations, James Martinez, stated that no student tuition or general education dollars are being used to support any of their college athletics. 

Instead, they received support from a variety of external sources to make UTRGV football happen. 

"We get sources from revenue, ticket sales, corporate, sponsorship dollars, — we have donations come in," Martinez said. 

The most recent one being this week from UTRGV's Football Founders Association, which currently holds a group of 28 members who provide direct support to the football program.

They donated $1.5 million, altogether UTRGV has generated $2.5 million for sport expansion. 

That eases the additional $11.25 per credit hour fee. 

'We knew that the financial aid that we can offer would mitigate most of that increased cost," Conque said. 

"Students voted for it and supported it," Martinez said. 

Watch the video above for the full report.