By Dinah Alobeid and Jessica Torrez-Riley

Even though Boston is under a blanket of snow, plans for next semester’s Springfest concert are well underway, and students can now start taking bets on this year’s headliner.

Every spring, the Council for University Programs (CUP) puts on a large concert in Matthews Arena as the culmination of a week of themed events. Previous performers have ranged from The Dropkick Murphys to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

At the beginning of the school year, the Budget Review Committee (BRC) allocates $250,000 from the Student Activities Fund for “major concerts,” BRC Chair Billy Haddad said.

While any student group willing to take on the planning of a major concert can request to spend these funds, CUP has held control over it since annual Springfest concerts began in April 1997.

Last Thursday, CUP put in another request for funding for the concert. Their request for $242,600 was not approved since BRC members felt CUP was not fully prepared when questioned about some numbers from their request.

However, they were approved to spend $157,750 because their bid on an artist was due Dec. 2, Haddad said. CUP Concert Chair Andy Sellars refused to give any names of potential entertainers they are bidding on.

“If information on who is being discussed becomes public, we lose very serious ground in negotiations with artists. It is business standard that information is confidential until contracts are signed,” Sellars said in an e-mail.

However, Sellars did say CUP aims for a universal genre this spring.

“We’re absolutely going to sell out,” he said in response to questions from the BRC about lack of attendance at previous concerts. However, some students said they would really like to see CUP put the idea of “campus-wide appeal” into action.

“I think it’s kind of stupid [to spend $250,000] if they get one of those bands that only a certain group of people like,” said middler music industry major Chris McCampbell.

He added he thinks the money could be better spent promoting smaller Northeastern bands.

McCampbell did say he liked the idea of the school putting on a music show.

“The Black Eyed Peas would be pretty universal,” he said.

While McCampbell said he’d like the act to appeal to the masses, some others felt differently.

“[It’d be] cool if they did a few different genres,” said Simon Zirin, a middler business administration major.

Scott Hultman, Springfest chair for CUP, gave some insight into the theme for this year’s events.

“We are pretty sure what direction we are going in, but some of the ideas we were thinking of include old school Nickelodeon, a comedy theme and old school MTV, which is one we think we could do a lot with,” he said.

Hultman said CUP is trying to get one large band and then shoot for one or two openers, either the band’s own or ones chosen by CUP.

“It depends on if the band has their own openers. If we can’t get our first choice, which we bid on last week, our next two choices are of the same caliber,” Hultman said.

He went on to explain other aspects of their requests from BRC.

“We only have the money for the performance or ‘talent’ allotment. We have to go back this Thursday and present on marketing, hospitality, things like that,” he said.

CUP president Amanda Zoglio said she is not worried about campus appeal being a problem.

“The events we are planning are fun and have a lot of audience participation,” Zoglio said. “We want to make it so that everyone has fun and the group of people working on this and planning Springfest are dedicated and excited.”

Some students, including junior computer science and information science major Llerone Lawrence, said they have high hopes for this year’s events.

“Well first, I want some kickass music, and a rock wall would be cool as one of the activities,” Lawrence said. “I’m also hoping that it doesn’t get canceled like a few years ago. Also, I think the major act should definitely have major appeal. More people would be interested.”

As for his personal plans for Springfest, he said he just wants to kick back and relax.

“Basically, I’m looking to relax with friends and listen to some good music,” he said.