High School Football Economics
The economy is horrible.
This statement has been heard at least a thousand times since late 2007. However, it has not generally been thought of in regards to the effects on high school football.
According to The Pulse of Economics website (www.ecPulse.com), the United States “economy is in the intensive care unit.”
The article mentions a recent speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who states that the current situation is tough and the government budget deficit is a serious threat to the economic security of the country.
It also states that unemployment rates have risen from 9.6 percent to 9.7 percent in the last six months.
What does this all mean for high school football? Public schools are funded through government allocations.
Therefore a decrease in government funds means that public education has to cut funding for school programs to make ends meet. That means that there is less money for equipment, for coaches, for playing in conferences and the whole nine yards.
Another effect the economy has on high school football is if the community has less money to spend then it is not as likely to spend it on going to a football game.
Another less thought of effect the economy is having on teams is the amount of home foreclosures going on.
According to an article in a November 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated, students, families, and even faculty have to leave their homes and relocate due to the troubling times.
The article, entitled ‘Lost Yardage’, follows the Charparral High School team, the Pumas, in Temecula, California. The article states that for every 1,000 homes in Temecula, there were 18 foreclosures.
That ratio is double those of other suburbs in Southern California.
A student interviewed in the article, senior defensive end John Reynolds, said that the impact was devastating. He said, “I saw my neighbors leave. There was no for-sale sign in the yard or anything. They just left their key in the door and walked away in the middle of the night."
‘Lost Yardage’ goes on to state that Temecula is heartland America in the sense that Friday night football is still a primary entertainment option. Chaparral High sells out its 4,300 seat stadium for every game.
This is much like the city of Rock Hill, SC.
The Rock Hill School District has three high schools. Each school has three football teams, freshman, junior varsity and varsity.
The most popular teams are the varsity teams. They play at the local stadiums every Friday night. It is a major spectator sport.
Two out of the three schools use the district three stadium for their sporting events. According to the respected websites (http://sph.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/ and http://nw.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/), South Pointe High and Northwestern High School both have six wins for the season. Rock Hill High has been less successful this season.
Overall, the poor economy has affected almost everyone and everything across the board, including high school football.
Here is part two for it:
Friday nights are full of tears, sweat and blood.
At least they are for those who attend high school football games. The tears come from either sweet victory or bitter loss. The sweat and blood drips from player’s faces and the occasional injury.
The atmosphere of a typical high school football game in Rock Hill, SC is filled with the anticipation and excitement of fans and the teams love of the game.
Yet how are these events affected by the economy? According to Dr. Robert Stonebraker, they are not really affected.
Stonebraker, 65, is an associate professor in accounting, finance, and economics at Winthrop University. He obtained his Ph.D from Princeton and is currently conducting research on economics and religion and the interplay between them.
He arrived at Winthrop in 2001 and has since taught there for 9 years.
Stonebraker says that economics is the study of how to best allocate scarce resources in the most valuable way.“The economy affects games minimally. However, it will affect adults in the community two different ways,” Stonebraker said. “The first is that some will see it as an expense not necessary to be used and others will see it as a cheap form of entertainment and will go more often.”
While the economy does not directly affect football games at the high school level, it does indirectly affect them. According to an article in a November 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated, students, families, and even faculty have to leave their homes and relocate due to the troubling times and foreclosure.
Stonebraker said that this recession is the worst since the 1930’s. “It pretty much sucks. We are growing but it will be a couple more years before unemployment recedes,” he said.According to The Pulse of Economics (www.ecpulse.com), the unemployment rate has risen from 9.6 percent to 9.7 percent in the last six months.
Football games have no real effect on the local economy as well. Stonebraker said that there is no net effect from locals, but outsiders drawn to the games provide benefits to the local economy through the money that they spend.
They may pay for a hotel, food, and entertainment here which gives money to local business and the city through hospitality and other taxes.
A draw for outsiders to come and watch Rock Hill football games is the fact that ESPN has started televising local games. So far South Pointe, a local high school, has had two games televised.
Stonebraker said that while he had no personal knowledge of it, it probably “boosted the net flow of dollars due to attendance. People love to be on camera.”
Stonebraker stopped and reflected on his earlier days when he played football, and how all the injuries that he got from it are affecting him today. He thought of a world without it.
He jokingly said “we should eliminate high school football and just play baseball.”Every weekend that she is able, she travels the one and a half hours to Greenville, SC to catch her old high school’s football team play.
“I just absolutely adore football,” she said. “I went to every game in
high school and enjoyed it so much that I did not want to stop.” Velez spoke about how much fun it was in her high school.Velez is a senior history major at Winthrop University. She lives in Greenville and only is able to make it home when her boyfriend, who lives there also, will pick her up from school.
“If I am not able to go home, I try to catch the local teams here in Rock Hill,” she said. Sometimes, she said, it is hard to do even that.
Velez said the economy has been horrible to her family. Her father had to go back to school in order to qualify for a promotion, and her mother works for Women, Infant and Children, commonly known as W.I.C.
Velez works as a night host in the Margaret Nance resident hall at Winthrop and tries to help support her family. “While no one has lost a job, it is still tough for us to make ends meet,” she said.
She is not the only one. The economy of the United states is in the intensive care unit, according to The Pulse of Economics website (www.ecPulse.com).
It also states that unemployment rates have risen from 9.6 percent to 9.7 percent in the last six months.
An article in a November 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated stated that, students, families, and even faculty have had to leave their homes and relocate due to the troubling times.
The article, entitled ‘Lost Yardage’, follows the Charparral High School team, the Pumas, in Temecula, California.
A student interviewed in the article, senior defensive end John Reynolds, said that the impact was devastating. He said “I saw my neighbors leave. There was no for-sale sign in the yard or anything. They just left their key in the door and walked away in the middle of the night."
Velez knew people who have been affected by the same thing. “My younger brother is in high school and it has happened to some of his friends,” she said. “Some of them even have to move to different school districts.”
The Rock Hill School District has three high schools. Each school has three football teams, freshman, junior varsity and varsity.
The most popular teams are the varsity teams. They play at the local stadiums every Friday night. It is a major spectator sport.
“My favorite team in Rock Hill is the Northwestern Trojans,” Velez said.
Thanks for reading/watching!
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