Prep Sports = Big Money?

College sports have long been a money maker for the individual schools, the NCAA, television networks, and advertisers, but are prep high school sports becoming a business like the college and professional sports? In a recent post by Howard Bloom, he discusses the growing business of high school sports and the players involved.

Sure, in my high school of less than 800 students in Affton, MO, there were corporate sponsors that helped alleviate some of costs of scoreboards and other expenses, but nothing matches the figures mentioned in Bloom's article, "High School Football - a growing big business" Big time prep football teams have moved beyond normal sponsorships and towards big business.

TITUS Sports Marketing, a Texas based marketing firm is trying to sell the naming rights for (Southlake)Carroll's football stadium, the school is looking for a ten-year, $1 million agreement.

That's right, $1 million for the rights to name a high school stadium. Granted it's not in the realm of the recent sale of the St. Louis Blues home facility, Scottrade Center, but it is moving in that direction. Southlake Carroll is among the elite high school football teams in the nation, as they have won the Texas 5-A championship two years in a row.

A majority of the nation cannot comprehend the dedication the state of Texas has for the high school football, however, the recent trend of big business in prep football extends far beyond Texas. In Duncan, South Carolina exists a football program at James F. Byrnes High School. The Rebels are currently riding a hot streak of four state championships in a row (2002-2005). Because of their success, the rebels have received donated uniforms from Nike and have recently raised funds for a $320,000 Jumbotron for the stadium, according to Bloom's article.

Because of the changing nature of the prep sports, head coach Bobby Bently has pulled triple duty as coach, Athletic Director, and marketing manager. As stated in Bloom's article,

"I find myself studying marketing and business plans as much as I do game planning," said Coach Bobby Bentley, who is also the Byrnes athletic director, in The New York Times report.

With this new trend in prep sports, we may start to see more and more high school sports games on TV as time progresses. If it replaces the numerous poker shows now televised, maybe it won't be so bad after all.

Information sited and courtesy of Howard Bloom, Southlake Carroll High School, and Wikepedia.com