PAY FOR PLAY POLL

I don't think baseball is the priority in many schools. It is the most expensive sport in the school that makes the least amount of money. It's not the glamour sport like football and basketball because they have the primetime slot while baseball plays after school.

I suggest that all schools pick their Friday night games and make them primetime games. Have them at 7:00 every Friday night and build it up in the school and community. I can't remember who it was but someone mentioned something like this not that long ago in here.

Ok enough side stuff. 2B mom we save money for our teams because I am the bus driver and I have two assistants who can drive a bus. By doing this we don't have to spend money paying for a driver.

I got a great group of parents who have done a great job in raising money for us. They got creative and did things people usually don't do which has been a huge benefit for us.

Wouldn't it be nice if the school boards would just say that each sport has $15,000 to spend each year?

Our school must just be lucky. I know there's moaning and groaning that goes on when it comes to money. But for the most part, our coaches get what they ask for. Our Booster Club covers all of the sports. They have two main fundraisers; one in the late summer/early fall and another in the late winter/early spring. Then they do concessions and a couple other things throughout the year. The Booster Club pitches in with some expensive stuff that teams need. I know last year they bought a $300 football helmet because that was the only choice there was for a kid to be able to play. He had suffered a few concussions and needed a more advanced helmet. They bought the AD a golf cart a couple years ago. I think the Booster Club buys the baseball team two new bats each spring.

The athletes all pay $45 per sport, but the school district put a cap of $110 per family per year. I kind of wonder what our athletic budget looks like. It seems like there is always someone getting new uniforms or something pretty big. The school pays for the buses; teams don't have to do that.


Sports used to get t-shirts that the Booster Club would pay for. They did away with that a few years ago which was complained about of course. But it makes sense why they did what they did. The money that was being spent on t-shirts now pays to have a certified athletic trainer from a local Physical Therapy/Sports Medicine clinic come 3-4 times a week and he travels with the varsity football team.

I can't say that we have the greatest facilities. There's many things that could be done to make things better. Another field maybe?? I think CoachB25 would agree, though, that we have a pretty nice field. My dad said when we joined our current conference, we had the nicest field in the conference. Several schools have upgraded since then and are right around the middle. We don't have lights, but they don't want lights either though we've had a couple games where it'd be nice to have them.

Like I said, we must be pretty lucky.

quote:

It is the most expensive sport in the school

I don't know why but I always thought football was the most expensive.

33 votes, 23 to 10.
" No's " in the lead.

( popcorn anyone? )

I'd be shocked if baseball really were more expensive than football normally..

I guess I didn't word what I meant clearly enough. Baseball is the most expensive sport outside of football and basketball. Basically baseball costs the most out of the sports that are considered "non-revenue" sports. Football and girls / boys basketball are considered the "revenue" sports.

I know football costs money and in most cases is the most expensive sport there is but through gate receipts a bad team can break even. Basketball makes the most money because they typically have the fewest expenditures.

Baseball can run you some money if you don't watch it. Game balls are about $60 a dozen so you end up with around 15 dozen for varsity, JV and Freshman games. Then you need practice balls for all three teams which if you know where to look you can get them for about $25 - 30 a dozen. Hats, socks, uniform replacements, belts and a whole bunch of other stuff and the numbers start adding up.

Ok hijacking is over.

Coach I see what you're saying. I'd be interested to know how you think girls basketball would be considered a revenue sport. Boys basketball yes, but not girls. Not from what I've seen. Both at a high school where it was downright bad and at a "mid-major" DI where the women's team was pretty good.

I'm kinda curious what kind of money really is spent at some places. I don't know what to think expenses-wise..

I know here the school doesn't pay for hats, socks, belts, etc. I also know they don't get new baseballs every year and I'd be shocked if the program really went through 15 dozen game balls a year.

Bulldog - as for girls being a revenue sport I guess it would come down to the school and community and how good the team is. I live in a basketball community and we only have one school in the system. So there is no sharing of money by other schools. Everyone comes out to the games and pays admission. Our boys teams make money like crazy and they actually pay for the umpires of baseball and softball.

Our girls team will make money (not a lot but finishes in the black) if they are good. If they are bad then they usually break even or finish just in the red. They basically pay for themselves.

Our football team is horrendous - haven't won a game in 2 years - but they usually break even or finish just in the red.

What hurts us in terms of money is we use a community park and cannot charge admission and the concession is ran by the park. We get very little from them for gate and concession. So there is a huge chunk of money gone right now.

Another thing that hurts is we have no industry in our county. Our tax base is very small because it's all farming and undeveloped land. So our small community is sucked dry by all the various organizations at the school. That is a huge reason why I am against a flat rate even if it applies to the entire team. I doubt we could sell enough ads each year for the entire team. For us it wouldn't work.

I know I operate on a budget of around $3000 each year. I drive my own bus and umps are taken care of so that helps a lot.

Some of the things you said Bulldog really surprise me - don't get new baseballs every year really catches me off guard. So when you start a game do you just throw in dirty balls or not quite white balls? Our umps throw balls out when they get dirt on them and we just rub until you can see the white again and throw them back in.

coach, regarding baseballs--- we typically start each game with two brand new baseballs. Then he's got a separate bag of game balls and he'll grab two or three that are in pretty good shape still.

We don't charge admission for baseball, softball, or s****r as well as underclass games for football and basketball. Our baseball field is right along a road that is elevated a little bit above the field. People actually sit and watch the game from the sidewalk. There's no way we could really do it.