
This Saturday, September 5th, Navy's football team will play the
Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus. Ohio Stadium will rock with the thunderous sound of 100,000+ spectators as the Buckeyes start their season aiming for another BCS Bowl Bid and a chance to play for the National Championship. Another football season will get underway, and the money will flow into Columbus.
According to a 2007 Wall Street Journal report, the 2006 Buckeye football team generated some $57 million dollars towards a 2007 Ohio State athletic budget of $109,382,222, what the WSJ called "the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of college sports. It allows the school to field 36 varsity teams in everything from baseball and soccer to riflery and synchronized swimming. The school spends about $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends per undergraduate on education." In addition, according to the report, Ohio State athletics pumps some $100 million dollars into the local economy.
Well, that might be news to the high school students of nearby South-Western City School District. All sports programs, clubs and activities have been shut down in the district this year in an effort to cut some $2.5 million in expenses. And, according to an article in today's USA Today, SWCS is not alone:
High schools across the USA are reporting that the recession has led to similar financial difficulties for extracurricular programs, forcing cost-cutting that is particularly painful now, as fall sports seasons open. From Hawaii to Rhode Island, school systems are trimming compensation for coaches, eliminating transportation, adding or increasing athletic fees for students, holding fundraising drives, cutting back on night games to save electricity costs and dropping some sports and related events altogether.
Back in the Columbus area, not even the high school marching bands will take the field. Says SWCS district spokeswoman Sandy Nekoloff, "there's no football games. There's nowhere for the marching band to march."
Maybe the Buckeyes can hold a bake sale.