wildstangs
01-16-2003, 10:16 PM
By Brett Vito / Reporter-News Staff Writer
January 16, 2003
Officials in Abilene and Sweetwater rolled out the red carpet, which in this case was a green turf, for high school football teams last fall and saw unprecedented dividends during the playoffs.
Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium hosted 12 playoff games with a paid attendance of 31,763, while Sweetwater’s Mustang Bowl hosted 10 games that drew a paid attendance of 21,057. The number of games each stadium hosted and the attendance were significant increases over previous years, officials in both cities said.
Before the football season began, each stadium replaced its natural grass fields with artificial turf that closely resembles a natural surface.
"We had a lot of teams interested in playing at Shotwell Stadium, more than we thought we would have," Abilene Independent School District athletics director Glenn Petty said. "We had six to 10 teams contact us about scheduling games here each week early on in the playoffs. We ran out of room on our calendar to write them all in."
One of the selling points for the new turf in each city was the economic impact it could yield by attracting a series of playoff games. No official study was conducted in either city, but officials estimated that each fan who traveled to Abilene or Sweetwater to attend a playoff game spent between $10 and $25 in addition to the price of admission.
The AISD financed Shotwell’s turf by using $1 million from the district’s fund balance, unspent money from prior budget years. The money will be repaid with proceeds from a 10-year exclusive rights soda contract between the AISD and a local bottler.
The Sweetwater ISD paid $730,000 for its turf. A Sweetwater alumnus has pledged to give the district $625,000 over five years to pay for the turf. Another donor gave $25,000. The district agreed to pay the remaining $80,000, although it hopes a booster club will raise enough money to repay the sum.
Ken Becker, executive vice president of the Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce, said that arriving at an approximation of the economic impact playoff games have is tough because no one is sure of the exact attendance figures for any of the games the city hosted. People who attend games on passes were not counted in the paid attendance totals at either stadium.
"The number of tickets sold is not close to being representative of the number of people who attended the game," Becker said. "The total does not count players, coaches, the bands and all of the people who get into the game with coaches’ passes or district passes."
Shotwell Stadium’s 12 games included three games that featured either Cooper or Abilene high schools. Local fans accounted for a large portion of the crowd at each of those games, reducing the percentage of Shotwell’s paid attendance that came from out of town.
"What we find is that high school football games do not have as great an economic impact as other types of events," said Dr. Terry Clower, a University of North Texas professor who has studied the economic impact of sports venues. "They don’t create a lot of jobs or save a restaurant, but they do bring in extra dollars that give the economy a boost."
Lytle Land and Cattle Co., a steakhouse located just a few hundred yards from Shotwell Stadium, was one of the local restaurants that benefited from the additional playoff games in Abilene last year.
"Every year we get extra business when the playoffs start, but this season we seemed to get more than ever before," said Jason Hyatt, a manager at Lyle Land and Cattle Co. "We hosted at least four or five team parties after games, and that makes a big difference for us. Those parties bring in 70 or 80 extra people on nights when we were already busy."
The AISD also turned a $4,000 profit from playoff games, which went into the general fund that pays for the district’s operating expenses.
The Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce, host of the Mustang Bowl’s playoff games, made a small profit after paying for expenses that included buying trophies for the winning teams, printing programs and renting the Mustang Bowl from the Sweetwater ISD.
The chamber rents the Mustang Bowl for $250 a game. The district pays the maintenance staff that monitors the facility during the game and the crew that cleans the stadium after each game.
The Mustang Bowl’s success was due in part to several teams playing multiple games at one site. Cisco and Crane each played three games in Sweetwater.
"We had to travel a little farther to get to Sweetwater than if we had played at other stadiums, but it is a good place to play," said Alan Cherry, Crane High School’s head football coach. "The turf had a lot to do with it and so did the atmosphere. It was a great place to play."
Contact sports writer Brett Vito at vitob@reporternews.com or 676-6771
January 16, 2003
Officials in Abilene and Sweetwater rolled out the red carpet, which in this case was a green turf, for high school football teams last fall and saw unprecedented dividends during the playoffs.
Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium hosted 12 playoff games with a paid attendance of 31,763, while Sweetwater’s Mustang Bowl hosted 10 games that drew a paid attendance of 21,057. The number of games each stadium hosted and the attendance were significant increases over previous years, officials in both cities said.
Before the football season began, each stadium replaced its natural grass fields with artificial turf that closely resembles a natural surface.
"We had a lot of teams interested in playing at Shotwell Stadium, more than we thought we would have," Abilene Independent School District athletics director Glenn Petty said. "We had six to 10 teams contact us about scheduling games here each week early on in the playoffs. We ran out of room on our calendar to write them all in."
One of the selling points for the new turf in each city was the economic impact it could yield by attracting a series of playoff games. No official study was conducted in either city, but officials estimated that each fan who traveled to Abilene or Sweetwater to attend a playoff game spent between $10 and $25 in addition to the price of admission.
The AISD financed Shotwell’s turf by using $1 million from the district’s fund balance, unspent money from prior budget years. The money will be repaid with proceeds from a 10-year exclusive rights soda contract between the AISD and a local bottler.
The Sweetwater ISD paid $730,000 for its turf. A Sweetwater alumnus has pledged to give the district $625,000 over five years to pay for the turf. Another donor gave $25,000. The district agreed to pay the remaining $80,000, although it hopes a booster club will raise enough money to repay the sum.
Ken Becker, executive vice president of the Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce, said that arriving at an approximation of the economic impact playoff games have is tough because no one is sure of the exact attendance figures for any of the games the city hosted. People who attend games on passes were not counted in the paid attendance totals at either stadium.
"The number of tickets sold is not close to being representative of the number of people who attended the game," Becker said. "The total does not count players, coaches, the bands and all of the people who get into the game with coaches’ passes or district passes."
Shotwell Stadium’s 12 games included three games that featured either Cooper or Abilene high schools. Local fans accounted for a large portion of the crowd at each of those games, reducing the percentage of Shotwell’s paid attendance that came from out of town.
"What we find is that high school football games do not have as great an economic impact as other types of events," said Dr. Terry Clower, a University of North Texas professor who has studied the economic impact of sports venues. "They don’t create a lot of jobs or save a restaurant, but they do bring in extra dollars that give the economy a boost."
Lytle Land and Cattle Co., a steakhouse located just a few hundred yards from Shotwell Stadium, was one of the local restaurants that benefited from the additional playoff games in Abilene last year.
"Every year we get extra business when the playoffs start, but this season we seemed to get more than ever before," said Jason Hyatt, a manager at Lyle Land and Cattle Co. "We hosted at least four or five team parties after games, and that makes a big difference for us. Those parties bring in 70 or 80 extra people on nights when we were already busy."
The AISD also turned a $4,000 profit from playoff games, which went into the general fund that pays for the district’s operating expenses.
The Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce, host of the Mustang Bowl’s playoff games, made a small profit after paying for expenses that included buying trophies for the winning teams, printing programs and renting the Mustang Bowl from the Sweetwater ISD.
The chamber rents the Mustang Bowl for $250 a game. The district pays the maintenance staff that monitors the facility during the game and the crew that cleans the stadium after each game.
The Mustang Bowl’s success was due in part to several teams playing multiple games at one site. Cisco and Crane each played three games in Sweetwater.
"We had to travel a little farther to get to Sweetwater than if we had played at other stadiums, but it is a good place to play," said Alan Cherry, Crane High School’s head football coach. "The turf had a lot to do with it and so did the atmosphere. It was a great place to play."
Contact sports writer Brett Vito at vitob@reporternews.com or 676-6771