The cost to run athletic programs at high schools in the state of Arizona is not cheap by any means, especially for football. When you put into perspective the price of jerseys, equipment, coach salaries, referees, maintenance of the field, and many other factors, athletic fees and ticket sales are nowhere near sufficient enough to fund football.

Not to mention that there’s three levels (freshman, junior varsity, and varsity) of football at Cactus High School in Glendale. Basically, that means everything is near tripled in regards to the above categories in running their football program.

Cactus Athletic Director Chad Doyle discussed just how pricey it is to run a high school football program in Arizona.

Doyle, who’s entering his second year as Cactus’ athletic director, said Peoria Unified School District’s athletic fee is $100. And the price for a non-student to get into a varsity football game is $5 per ticket. The cost to operate the games exceeds the amount of revenue made.

So how much does each of these categories actually cost on average? Let’s find out.

Jerseys and Equipment

The expenses of jerseys and equipment for the gridiron is all dependent on the durability of the uniform to determine how often they need to purchase new ones. Doyle explained that PUSD does not have equipment managers, which means that the players have to care for their own uniforms.

“The way that the athlete's care for their uniforms will decide how long they will be able to last. … They usually last around six to eight years,” Doyle said. “If we had to buy new uniforms today, they’d probably run for around $20,000, and that doesn’t even include helmets.”

Cactus wears Russell Athletic, and sales associate Kendall Barnes said the price-point for their brands jersey’s, “Russell Athletic makes high school jerseys ‘extremely durable’ due to them changing hands so many times. Since we have to make custom jerseys for hundreds of schools, it forces our company to use more resources, which is why they make the bulk price what it is.”

Maintenance

Maintaining the football field and practice areas is another key component in producing football events. If the field is uneven, or not taken care of, it can lead to numerous problems, such as injuries or destruction to the playing surface. And being in Arizona, the cost to run water to keep the grass alive adds to the already high price.

“In order to maintain our facilities the way we want to, it’s a tremendous cost,” Doyle said. “For football, it probably runs around $10,000, and can get upwards towards $15,000 if we count irrigation.”

Jerald Martinez, who maintains several fields for the district, said: “It takes hundreds of gallons of water per week to keep the grass alive for just one field due to the Arizona heat.”

If this is only for football, imagine the expenses to maintain every court/field on the Cobras campus.

Coach and Referee Salaries

Although they already make salaries for teaching, the football coaches make an additional stipend during football season.

“Some of the revenue made is used to pay a portion of the coaches salary,” Doyle said.

He didn’t specify what the stipend is for the football coaches.

Referees also get a portion of their pay through revenue made. Even though they are employed through the AIA, the schools in which they officiate at gives them a majority of their paycheck. There are usually four officials for a regular season high school football game.

Miscellaneous Expenses

Chad mentioned some other expenses as well, including electricity for the lights and scoreboard, football training equipment, and even the costs of footballs.

Most students and other people in the community assume that the schools or districts can afford to run athletic programs such as football.

But in reality, the school is barely able to cover a portion of it, and they use fundraisers and different events to help compensate for the expensive football program.