Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin told Bryan-College Station business leaders Wednesday that he understands that a year without college football would be painful for Aggieland, but the possibility still remains.
"We are in this together ... and we will take that into account with any decision about the future of Kyle Field," Loftin said at the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce's annual economic outlook conference.
The local business community has been fretting over the possibility that the Aggies might play a season out of town since A&M officials said in 2011 that they were considering a massive overhaul of their home football stadium.
Renovations could include tearing down the east and west sections of Kyle Field, parts of which are more than 90 years old. That undertaking would likely be difficult to complete without disrupting the football season.
There are several other possibilities under consideration that wouldn't require an out-of-town season, including building an entire new stadium or adding a southern section of seats and remodeling only the first deck of the east and west sides.
A&M officials have said they need to renovate in order to expand seating capacity, add more premium ticket options and bring the stadium up to modern code requirements.
The university is currently interviewing potential architects for the project and could announce its plans this year. The earliest construction could begin is 2013.
"We intend to have this study going on for the next six months," Loftin said. "Then we will make a rational decision going forward."
Representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and the city of College Station have met with Loftin to stress the potential impact of a season played outside College Station.
He was added to the conference's schedule to address the concerns. He told attendees that A&M would also suffer financially if it played a season in Houston. But, he said, the university needs to think about more than just one year.
"Given the age of Kyle Field today, a decision about it will be a very long-term decision," he said. "I just ask your patience as we go forward in a very consultative and systematic and deliberate way to determine exactly what the best improvement of Kyle Field will be."
No comprehensive studies have been done to measure how much money football season means to the Bryan-College Station economy. The games usually cause every hotel in the area to sell out, even though most hotels require multi-night reservations and command top rates during those weekends. Restaurants, gas stations and retail stores also rely heavily on the games.
A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne, who was also invited to speak at the event, said the university sold $21.2 million in football tickets last season,
73.3 percent of which were from outside the Bryan-College Station area. The university expects even more demand next year when the Aggies join the Southeastern Conference, which has more fans who travel to out-of-state games.
"We have got to get our ducks in a row, but I suspect you are going to like what you see because this is a 100-year decision," Byrne said.
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