No money = no sports

School boards whacking all sports teams from budgets that don't have enough $ to go around.

I guess the next thing is some parent filing a lawsuit because little Johnny is losing his chance at a college scholarship.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/education/28sports.html

 

This was inevitable.

 

Maybe its just the area I live in, but the only sport here that would affect anyone getting a scholarship is football.

All the other sports down here have big and highly active club/AAU/travel ball programs that get far more play as far as college recruiting is concerned.

 

And the only reason that's not also true of football is because HS football has become such a strong part of the cultural fabric. No reason to assume that football wouldn't or couldn't go in the same direction.

 

Actually, I would argue that if someone put up the startup money for an all-star league, that would draw players away in a hurry. Cultural fabric or not, if there was an AAU for football, it would fill up fast. The problem is the expense is so much greater than basketball, baseball or just about any other sport.

 

I'll be interested to see some school budgets once fall sports begin. These gas prices are going to throw a lot of things off kilter, especially for rural schools that have farther to travel for games.

 

Yes. And football isn't really the problem. It's sports like basketball and volleyball where teams play everyone in their league twice and both schools have to do the long trip.

Pay to play is becoming prevelant throughout my area and I'm sure it will be done nationwide in a bit.

 

AAU already sanctions football, but not for high school age groups. I figure it wouldn't take much for AAU to move into that area, but it would have to find a way to balance things out between large communities and small communities. (At least, it should).

 

I remember being told a few years ago that the revenue schools got from football provided close to all the funding for the other team sports during the school year.

Honestly, if sports like golf or tennis got dropped from the high school rotation, I'm not sure there would be that much crying.

 

Well, in a sense there would be, but obviously not by sports writers.

In some states, like Texas, football most definitely pays for everything.

In states like Idaho where crowds aren't very big, I'm not sure if I believe that.

 

Expect another big legal fight over classifications and conference assignments.
As the cost of gas goes up, schools can't afford to travel 200 miles one-way for games but that's what some state associations are mandating.
A school in my state almost dropped football last season because of the district's financial troubles. They would have had the booster club not stepped up and footed the diesel bill.
I suspect that a school in my state will drop football this year and they will cite gas costs/travel expenses as the reason.

 

Club/travel football would be no more expensive than club/travel hockey, and that is hugely popular. If AAU made the leap, people would follow.

And for as much as I like high school sports, we're already seeing signs that it's serving as a minor league for club teams. Players who aren't good enough for year-round club or whose parents can't afford it are the ones playing high school now.