BY: Robert Preston Jr.
In the recent past, I have written here of the ongoing controversies facing football and football participation at all levels of the game. We have heard more dialog regarding head injuries and hot weather dangers and various other issues over the last couple of years. As a result, in most areas, fewer and fewer kids are playing football. Former pros, some Hall of Famers, have said on the record that they would prefer that their kids stay away from the game.
We have also discussed that in spite of the issues, football in Georgia is at an all-time high. There has never been more players, more schools, more media coverage.
And there has never been more money.
At the time I am writing this, it is Dec. 11. The football state championship games begin two days from now. In early December, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution released two articles discussing the amount of money the football postseason generates and how that compares to other sports, namely basketball. According to the AJC, the 2012 football playoffs generated nearly $1.4 million throughout the state. By comparison, the 2013 basketball playoffs brought in $389,003.
There were seven football state championship games compared to 14 basketball title games. The difference in revenue generated by those championship games? $757,593 for football; $185,580 for basketball.
About 12 percent goes to the GHSA (which, according to the AJC, pays $50,000 to use the Georgia Dome for the state title games over two days). The participating schools receive some of the money as well. The least amount of money a school received last year was about $13,000. The most was almost $60,000 (which went to a 5A school).
You can draw a lot of conclusions from these reports. I’m sure individuals a lot smarter than me are still crunching numbers and looking for trends. To me, the conclusion is quite simple: Football means big money. It means even bigger money for colleges and the communities that have NFL franchises.
You can’t separate the violence from football. No matter how many rules get passed, no matter what kind of safety precautions governing bodies enact, football is an inherently violent sport. That will never change. Yet it remains incredibly popular and generates tremendous revenue – mind-blowing revenue – for its schools and communities.
That is why football is the nation’s number-one sport. And that won’t change, either.
