When the Sequatchie County High football team leaves for its state playoff game this afternoon, money is not what coach Chad Barger is worried about losing. But like most coaches whose teams travel in the postseason, he knows his program will take a financial hit.
“It’s a pretty safe bet that we’ll lose money on this game,” Barger said.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, the state’s high school governing body, takes 50 percent of the gate receipts for all football playoff games. That leaves the competing teams to split the other 50 percent. Visiting teams are responsible for all travel expenses, and actually can lose money playing.
“The state gets way too much, no question. But what do you do?” Barger said. “It’s not like it’s something new. It’s been that way for years, and all we can do is fuss.”
Matthew Gillespie, TSSAA assistant director, said the money the organization takes from playoff gate receipts helps pay the premiums on catastrophic insurance TSSAA provides for its member schools. Those premiums run between $550,000 and $600,000 annually.
The TSSAA takes more from football games because more than 90 percent of insurance claims are for football injuries, Gillespie said.
“We have heard coaches complain before about the percentage the association gets, but once we explain the cost of the catastrophic insurance policy and how much it would cost the individual schools, they typically understand our reasons,” he said.
There were 88 first-round playoff games in Tennessee last week. If at least 1,000 fans bought tickets to each of those games, the TSSAA would have made more than $350,000 last Friday alone. There are three more rounds of playoffs, including 56 games to be played tonight, before the championship games are played Dec. 2-4 in Cookeville.
Last year TSSAA reported a net profit of $891,122.82 for the first four rounds of the state playoffs. The TSSAA has a separate contract with the city of Cookeville for the BlueCross Bowl state championship games. The organization increased ticket prices by one dollar to $8, the second straight year that ticket prices went up by a dollar. The TSSAA does pay for the officials and their mileage for each game. Playoff games use a six-man officiating crew, with each referee being paid $95.
It isn’t just traveling teams that lose money during the playoffs. Bradley Central coach Damon Floyd said his school makes about $8,000 for regular-season home games but cleared only $1,000 last week after expenses were paid and half the gate receipts mailed to the TSSAA.
“It’s not a financial advantage to host a playoff game at all,” Floyd said. “You want to play at home because it gives you a better chance of winning and you won’t lose money, but we didn’t make much last week because the weather was kind of bad.”
The Georgia High School Association takes 12 percent of gate receipts from each playoff game. Once expenses, such as ticket-takers, officials and security, are paid, the visiting team is reimbursed for its mileage and the two teams split whatever money is left evenly.
In Alabama, the traveling team gets $5 per mile and the two teams split 74 percent of the gate receipts, with the remaining 26 percent going to the state association. The host school also gets to keep $500 to help offset the cost of officials, security and gate workers.
When North Jackson hosted Brooks in a first-round game last week, the Stevenson school made $1,952.62 after expenses. The school sent a check for $1,970.78 to the Alabama High School Athletic Association and Brooks, after its mileage was included, made $2,202.
The TSSAA changed the playoff format last year, grouping schools closer together to cut down on travel expenses. The average round-trip mileage for tonight’s second-round games is 194 miles.
Contact staff writer Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.