University of Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte makes a quiet entrance into at the Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Nov. 1, 2024. (Tom Fox/Dallas Morning News)

AUSTIN — Texas will incur almost $30 million in new costs for the athletic department because of pending revenue-sharing laws and 200 new scholarships with increased limits across all sports, school athletic director Chris Del Conte said in his annual town hall Wednesday night.

Del Conte said the school will grow their number of scholarships to 466 at a cost of $9.2 million and also pay out $20.5 million annually to all athletes once the House settlement is announced this spring, but said Texas will implement those raised scholarships over three years.

“We plan to get to the full limit,” he said, adding the athletic department is counting on $13 million in new revenue and $6 million in budget reductions and other staff efficiency.

Del Conte said football ticket prices will rise $13 a game, or $80 over the course of the season. Season ticket renewals began Wednesday.

“We’re doing that because we want to maintain Texas as the best athletic department in the country,” he said.

He announced in place of the Orange-White spring football game will be a Football Fan Day on April 26, which will include interactive booths as well as time for autographs and photographs.

Del Conte briefly addressed the poor season by the Texas men’s basketball team and said, “You’re going to have ebbs and flows. We’re not having the year we all expected. But that’s the reality of sports. It’s a hot year across the SEC in basketball.”

Del Conte confirmed previous reports that the football press box for the media will be moved to the south end zone, said the school will go more to grab-and-go concessions on the east side of Royal-Memorial Stadium and said parking at football games will be difficult next season, in part, because the Martin Luther King bridge over Interstate 35 will be taken down over the next three weeks.

Asked if the SEC will move from eight to nine conference games, Del Conte said, “I prefer a ninth game because we get Oklahoma at a neutral site, and adding a ninth game would give us four at home and four away. I’m like Ben Gay. I’m applying constant heat with our friends in the SEC. We need a ninth game.”

If the league does go to nine games, Texas will continue to pursue marquee non-conference games like the series with Michigan and Ohio State. The Longhorns open the 2025 season at defending national champion Ohio State before hosting the Buckeyes in 2026 and the Wolverines in 2027.

“Our brand should play the greatest brands in college football because were the best,” Del Conte said. “We just signed a home and home with Notre Dame. Those games matter. I’m not interested in a cupcake schedule. We owe it to college football to play the very best.”

Del Conte said he’ll announce another high-profile, non-conference series in the future soon but didn’t name the opponent.

As for expansion, Del Conte said the new indoor and outdoor football facility under construction south of the stadium will be completed by June 2026. He puts renovations for the softball and baseball stadiums remain his top priority with hopes of someday extending the Disch-Falk Field bleachers down the left-field line with a private club on top, but the school must finish the football building first.

“After that,” he said, “we will assess our next campaign, and those two (sports) will be at the top of the heap. The actual cost of a new softball stadium is about $25 million, but I’ll take $10 million from anyone.”

In addition, Del Conte addressed the furor over baseball parking and said the school will allow parking at the LBJ Library lots and probably use shuttles through golf carts. Fans have been angry over being blocked out of the parking garage just west of Disch-Falk Field because 1,000 of those spaces have been reserved for graduate students living in the housing recently erected north of McCombs Field.

“I made a mistake,” Del Conte said, apologizing for what he called poor communication from his office before the season. “That’s on me.”

He was asked to clarify rumors he’d follow outgoing Texas president Jay Hartzell and go to SMU as its athletic director. “I ain’t going to SMU,” he said. “Who wants to ride a pony?”