Staff Photo by Dan Henry
Allan Holder, left, purchases a ticket from Sherry Shaver for the 2009 TSSAA Playoff game between Ooltewah and Farragut on Friday evening.

Even when they need it most with a struggling economy, Tennessee high school football teams aren't guaranteed of improving their finances by making the playoffs.

Of the money generated by ticket sales in playoff games, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association takes half, and the two participating programs split the other half.

McMinn County will play at Maryville tonight before an expected capacity crowd. In the playoffs last year, McMinn got close to $5,000 for its part of the gate in a first-round trip to Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett. Once McMinn covered its expenses, though, the windfall was much less.

"The buses cost about $3,000, and we fed (the players) two meals and that cost about $1,000," Cherokees coach Bo Cagle said.

Making the playoffs is the goal of every high school football team, and the extra money from extra games is nice, especially if a team makes a deep run into the postseason.

A run to the state championship would mean five extra games -- and paydays -- but as the stakes rise, so do the expenses, especially in Tennessee where are there are no travel allowances.

"We traveled in charter buses, but we were lucky to break even -- even at the championship-game level," one coach said. "We received some money, but it wasn't what we thought it should be. We didn't gain much financially, and we sure didn't get a windfall from going to the state championship."

Programs and coaches are hesitant to pencil playoff revenues into the budget because of the uncertain nature of the sport. And football is expensive. Even the smallest of programs have annual budgets of $20,000 to $25,000. Some are $50,000 or more.

In the postseason, the TSSAA pays officials from its share. But TSSAA spokesman Matthew Gillespie said much of the money was used to pay for all schools' catastrophic insurance.

"That policy runs about $550,000 per year," he said.

Very few teams make money from the playoffs, coaches say. Even advancing to the finals is no guarantee of covering expenses, much less making a profit.

Rhea County failed to make the playoffs for the first time in seven years this season, but coach Jason Fitzgerald said playoff money doesn't really help his program.

"You can't make any money in the playoffs with the TSSAA getting 50 percent, especially if you have to travel," he said. "And if you play at home, you have expenses for lights, gatekeepers, security and field paint.

"The only way you could make any money is if you have four games at home."

The Georgia High School Association takes 12 percent off the top of the playoff ticket revenue, reimburses traveling teams at a rate of $4.50 per mile (one way), then lets the participating teams split what's left.

Ridgeland coach Mark Mariakis said his program brings in $10,000 to $15,000 per regular-season home game, while Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe coach Todd Windham said his school will make around $8,000 each home game. Each program will play in first-round playoff games tonight.

Most of the teams in the Tennessee Valley battled unforeseen factors this year that made the regular season less profitable than normal. Lookout Valley, for example, had a home date all but washed away when Greenback refused to move to a Thursday night game to avoid heavy rain in the forecast. That cost Lookout Valley about $2,000 because the weather cut down on the number of tickets sold, coach Tony Webb said.

"It kills you. We couldn't move that game, and it poured," Webb said. "Instead of $2,000 or more, we maybe made enough money to pay the officials. Our gates have been down a little this year, so we may have to do some more fundraising."

Like many programs, East Ridge will have two fundraisers, one in the spring and another in the fall. Signal Mountain coach Bill Price said the Eagles have had six fundraisers over the past two seasons for the program still in its first varsity season.

While all programs generate money from ticket sales, some make additional money from parking and concessions, while others have branched out into selling advertising at their fields.

Some football programs, however, must share concessions and/or parking fees with other school programs, such as band and/or ROTC. For example, Red Bank's band parents handle parking as a fundraiser. Soddy-Daisy's ROTC program gets $2 from a $3 parking charge, with the other $1 going to football.

"We're somewhere around $35,000, but there isn't a set figure," said Polk County coach Derrick Davis, who will welcome his second extra home gate of the playoffs when the Wildcats host Loudon tonight.

"Some years we spend more and some years it's less," Davis said. "But we get no money from the county. We are self-supporting. Our biggest fundraiser comes at the gate."

That's the same as Hamilton County, which pays only for coaching stipends. Programs in Hamilton County pay for power, water and field maintenance plus all player equipment and extras such as video and weight-room equipment. Those costs don't include reconditioning of pads and helmets.

Polk's football program also gets all money from the concession stand, but unlike many schools, where ticket prices have climbed to $7, Polk still charges $5. And there is no charge for parking.

"Unless I'm told to by higher-ups, I'm never going to charge for parking," Davis said.

He fumes at this year's TSSAA-mandated increase to $8 for tickets to playoff games.

"The (50/25/25) split makes you sick, and that $8 ticket is even worse," Davis said. "We're treading water (financially), and sometimes we get our heads pushed under. We don't have money to burn, but we also want our fans to be able to afford to come. We want people in the seats."