Members of the Meigs County High School football team unload equipment at Boyd-Buchanan for a game. The team had to drive its three buses about 100 miles round-trip.

Three measly points spread over two Region 3-3A games cost Polk County at least one lower seeding in the 2007 high school football state playoffs. One year later, that same development would be a lot more costly — literally.

Soaring gas prices in the last year have caused schools, departments of education and state athletic governing organizations to examine ways to continue providing football on Friday nights, and in a reasonably cost-effective manner.

Polk County lost 16-14 at Howard on Oct. 5 and 42-41 in overtime to McMinn Central in a home game the Wildcats seemingly had in hand in the final minute of regulation. As a result, Polk became 3-3A’s third seed and had to travel to the midstate to play White House in the first round of the playoffs. Region champion McMinn Central and Howard hosted games.

There’s been no break lately for any Region 3-3A team in playoff openers, no matter which Region 4 opponent it faces. The break comes in the form of not having to travel, which now more than ever can put a big dent in a budget.

Buses transporting teams to games run on diesel fuel, which currently has a national retail price average of $4.12 per gallon according to ConsumerReports.org. That’s up from $2.89 this time last year.

“We took two chartered buses,” Polk coach Derrick Davis said of last fall’s trip to White House. “Counting meals and snacks on the way back, I’d probably say it cost us about $3,000. If we’re lucky enough to make it to the playoffs this year and have to travel, we’ll be taking a school bus, more than likely.

“If you’re in our region and have to travel, you’re looking at going to Nashville minimum, probably farther. And you still have to have gas money, even if you’re not taking a chartered bus.”

Fans could be feeling the pinch, too. As of Sept. 2, the national gasoline average is 88.4 cents a gallon more than this time last year, according to ConsumerReports.org.

Ooltewah’s schedule this season includes trips to Nashville, Maryville and Oak Ridge. Ooltewah Middle School coach Gerald Williams, whose son, Brian, is the starting center on the high school varsity team, said he’s heard talk among other Owls parents about possibly not being able to make all of those trips because the cost could be close to $100.

“People with a lot of money, it doesn’t make any difference to,” Ooltewah coach Benny Monroe said. “But the average person living paycheck to paycheck either has to look at getting a more economical car, or they’ve got to cut down on travel.”

Making it work

Athletic programs at each school are responsible for their own budgets. The primary sources for revenue come from proceeds taken at gates and booster club offerings.

“All the schools are pretty much on their own,” East Ridge principal Mark Bean said. “Hamilton County did help us this year with athletics insurance. We used to have to pay for that ourselves for each sport.”

Some schools have invoked a slight increase in ticket prices this year to help defray costs. Cleveland coach Danny Wilson said the $1 increase at his school, Bradley Central and Walker Valley did nothing more than bring them up to the price level where most schools in the southeastern part of the state already were.

Charging for parking is a way that some schools supplement their programs. Some that play in geographically widespread regions have chosen to play junior varsity games only against the nearby schools.

The Board of Education at neighboring Meigs County seems to have an efficient system in place. Sources within the department said any extracurricular club from any of the county’s secondary schools that chooses to make a trip must submit a request to the department. The department then pays for any fuel costs and the club reimburses the central office.

Clubs are required to record mileage. Fuel bills are paid weekly, and reports of average gas prices are sent to the schools.

trimming classifications

The TSSAA has had at least five classifications for football since the 1993 season. Division I was created with the public-private split beginning in the 1997-98 school year and has featured five classes all along.

With reclassification already scheduled for next school year, the state organization voted in June to trim Division I football in 2009 back to three classifications.

The idea is to combine the 5A and 4A classifications and the 3A and 2A classes. Plans are to continue using at least five Division I classifications for postseason football. It could become six if Class 1A is subdivided.

TSSAA executive director Ronnie Carter gave an example of a new league as being Bradley Central, Cleveland, McMinn County, Ooltewah, Red Bank, Rhea County, Soddy-Daisy and Walker Valley. For playoff purposes, the teams would be split into upper-enrollment and lower-enrollment with the top two of each advancing.

The opportunity to play more regular-season away games closer to home will benefit schools financially in multiple ways. Team bus trips will be less expensive, and gates should be bigger with visiting teams’ fans more likely to make shorter road trips.

“What we’re trying to do is eliminate things like Chattanooga teams having to travel to Knoxville for league games — i.e., Region 2-5A football,” Carter said. “The more classes you have, the more travel is involved. By cutting classifications from five down to three for regular-season purposes, we’ve cut travel down.”

Ooltewah ended up a game short on this year’s schedule, in addition to having to make the three long road trips.

“Nothing is foolproof, but it will definitely work out better for us,” Monroe said of the new format. “We’ve got a nine-game schedule, and that’s with playing two teams out of Nashville. We certainly won’t have to travel as much by having to play seven games against local people.

“I don’t think we’ll have any parents not make those long trips this year, but they’re probably going to have to prioritize and have to change some other things. Gas prices are certainly a consideration in everything we do.”

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