Making $$$ on a scrimmage
I went out to Captain Shreve High School to shoot some video of Captain Shreve scrimmaging Minden Thursday night.
To my surprise, the Gators were actually charging admission ... to a scrimmage.
OK, it was $2 for adults and $1 for students, but come on. It's the idea of charging money to attend an event that has no bearing on the season that irks me.
This isn't the NFL where thousands and thousands of people would pay money to see preseason game. These are high school kids.
I don't know if it's a case of needing money for the improvement of the program, or if it's a case of Captain Shreve just being greedy. I certainly hope it's not the latter.
What it looks like is squeezing the parents, relatives and friends of the players for a few extra dollars.
To my surprise, the Gators were actually charging admission ... to a scrimmage.
OK, it was $2 for adults and $1 for students, but come on. It's the idea of charging money to attend an event that has no bearing on the season that irks me.
This isn't the NFL where thousands and thousands of people would pay money to see preseason game. These are high school kids.
I don't know if it's a case of needing money for the improvement of the program, or if it's a case of Captain Shreve just being greedy. I certainly hope it's not the latter.
What it looks like is squeezing the parents, relatives and friends of the players for a few extra dollars.
posted by BigWheelChamp at 4:37 PM
2 Comments:
$2 is cheap compaired to West Monroe vs Ouachita where they charged $5 for their scrimmage. The referees charge $40 each for 5 referees so that is where the money collected goes.
I have to believe that Brian is just trying to provoke comments. Surely someone who covers high school sports knows better. Paying admission to high school sporting events is what makes the wheels go round, even at scrimmages. How do you think they pay the referees? Believe me, as someone who has worked for years raising money for booster clubs that support middle and high school athletics, money does not grow on trees. The Caddo Parish School Board allocates $1700.00 annually to each high school for all sports, hardly enough to support even one sport. High school athletic programs fund themselves through admissions, just like the big boys at the college and professional levels. Even that is not enough to fully fund a football program at the high school level. When you consider that one helmet costs $130-$150, shoulder pads cost $75-$80 each, and shoes cost $45-$50 a pair, it doesn't take long to spend thousands of dollars equiping a team. Most of the funding for field maintenance and practice facility improvements comes through fundraising by parents groups. To complain about a $2 ticket is truly incredible. Brian, if you had shown your press credentials, they would have let you in for free. By the way, why is a newspaper reporter at a scrimmage shooting video? Is there some new technology that will allow you to display it in the paper? How about that ad that Captain Shreve ran next to the article? Did you guys give them the space, or did you charge them? Look at it this way: the $2 you spent is going to support the sport that you are being paid to cover. Probably worth the price of admission. Certainly, this is a case of need, not greed.
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