Edward L. Ayers, the University of Richmond's president, spoke Friday at a local Retail Merchants Association gathering.

During his presentation, Ayers noted that UR uses thousands of Richmond-area vendors, annually generates millions of dollars for the local economy, and offers its students a nationally respected business curriculum. His speech completed, Ayers opened the floor for questions.

The first: "So, when is this new stadium opening?"

Ayers was amused by the off-point inquiry, but not surprised. He appreciates the appeal and power of college athletics, as well as area interest in the on-campus stadium UR intends to build for football.

"I'd like for us to run the best small-university sports program in the country," said Ayers, whose first school year as UR president is winding down.

Part of that, Ayers added, is periodic qualification by the men's basketball team for the NCAA tournament, an achievement he sees coming. "I think people are relieved to see that the men's basketball team has turned the corner and just played with more sort of just fire, and character," Ayers said of the program that went 16-15 this past season with mostly young players after three consecutive losing seasons.

And part of Ayers' goal is the on-campus stadium. After his Friday speech, Ayers sat down in his office for a discussion of Spiders athletics.

Monday marks the five-year anniversary of the announcement from the UR Board of Trustees that an on-campus stadium was on the way, yet construction has yet to begin. What do you say to those who wonder what's taking so long?

"I came in sort of four-fifths of the way through this story. . . . We have been taking our time. I guess we could have rushed it. We could have said, 'That's enough of those town hall meetings [with UR neighbors].' Instead, it was, 'No, we didn't quite nail that last time, you want to hear a little more about that. Let's just nail it down.'

This has not been cheap for us to basically turn over every stone and see what's underneath. The upside of that is because of the careful planning of every aspect and consequences of this, that we can go into the design and building of it knowing we have [details] taken care of."

What value do you believe an on-campus stadium will bring?

"This, I think, is the missing piece that we need to put together the whole kind of alumni connection, alumni participation rates, the sort of sense of community. Outdoor, football, tailgating, all that. . . . I love basketball, too, but it doesn't have the same social effect. I wasn't here long when I saw that's actually a need that we have. We don't have a vehicle to sort of celebrate ourselves."

Are you optimistic that in 2010, the projected opening season for the facility, UR will be playing football on campus?

"There's no reason that I know of for us not to be playing football [on campus] by 2010. We don't have any actual opponents to the stadium." [UR Athletic Director Jim Miller said Friday that construction could begin early in 2009 and last 18 months.]

What's your view on the importance of UR athletics in Richmond?

"[The school] is a trademark of the city -- the University of Richmond. When we succeed in athletics, people can't help but think about the city. I'd like for a lot of people who might not have an immediate connection with the university to feel that through athletics, that it kind of embodies their city."

You are comfortable with the role of athletics at UR?

"I don't find anybody lobbying me to do something other than we are. Anybody who talks to me about Spider athletics is proud of it. I'm not hearing anything from anybody, frankly, that we're exaggerating its importance, that we've lost the sense of perspective, that we've let it take over the university, and all this sort of stuff."

Not long after you started your tenure last year, you said that the Atlantic 10 Conference for Spiders sports other than football, and football affiliation with the Colonial Athletic Association, seemed like good fits for UR. Still feel that way?

"I'd love to play state teams as much as we can. . . . I saw what it means to play William and Mary, to play James Madison. . . . In all honesty, it's not necessary to be in the same conference to do all that, [but] I'd like to do that as much as possible.

"It strikes me that we're in the best basketball conference you can be in that's not in the BCS. And I think we're in the best football conference we can be in and be Division I-AA. . . . You might not have designed [the current arrangements] from the ground up, but those are the best opportunities before us right now.

"Until they invent a perfect conference for us, and I don't know what that would look like, I am satisfied with where we are."

UR does not offer men's lacrosse on the varsity level. But it's a growing sport, and one that many lacrosse supporters feel would succeed at UR. What's your perspective?

"I get people lobbying me to add sports, but you just want to make sure we know exactly what we're talking about and the impact of it all. I hear most often about men's lacrosse. Of course with Title IX, the next question is: 'What's the complementary sport for women?' We would need to understand all the dimensions of that. It would take a gift. Somebody would have to believe in [men's lacrosse] enough to say, 'I'll fund it.' If philanthropy came along to do that, then we'd want to make sure we had it all covered.

"In the meantime, we want to make sure we're succeeding with sports that we're committed to."