Football revenue crucial  to other high school sports

Fairmont High School football cheerleaders paint signs for the season opener football game (against Alter) on Friday on Thursday after school.

Jim Witmer Fairmont High School football cheerleaders paint signs for the season opener football game (against Alter) on Friday on Thursday after school.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer Updated 12:22 AM Friday, August 27, 2010

Crowds at high school football games, such as those that begin throughout Ohio tonight, earn as much as half of an athletic department’s revenue for the year, making football attendance a prime concern for high school athletic officials.

“Football is obviously vital to the financial stability of any athletic department,” said Ron Ullery, the Centerville High School football coach and athletic director who oversees a department that brought in an area-high $353,275 during the 2009-10 school year.

Poor weather, uninteresting opponents, losing seasons or other factors that decrease attendance can affect all sports, meaning the tickets purchased for football help determine travel and equipment for thousands of area athletes who participate at the high school level.

A sampling of 13 area high schools showed that an average of 37.4 percent of athletic department revenue comes from football, mostly in home attendance. In addition, other department revenue not exclusive to football can be tied to the popular fall sport, such as all-sports passes and merchandise, school officials said.

Because of that, athletic directors will monitor weather on game day and size up crowds when games kick off. Afterward, they’ll quickly calculate the earnings.

“We’ll know it down to the cent,” said Brian Donoher, the Fairmont High School athletic director, whose team hosts two-time defending Division IV state champion Alter in the Dayton Daily News Game of the Week tonight.

Rusty Clifford, superintendent of West Carrollton Schools, compared the athletic department to the food service department as a self-sustaining arm of the school district. Like at many districts, athletics works with an independent budget, making football game attendance even more important.

“In years they don’t make as much, they won’t buy as much,” Clifford said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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