3afan2K3
09-04-2004, 05:11 PM
Friday night football is big business
It's estimated that fans will spend at least $275 million
04:39 PM CDT on Friday, September 3, 2004
By GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News
When those Friday night lights come on in Texas, and an estimated 1.2 million fans a week are drawn to them, the economic impact is felt in small towns and large cities, from the Piney Woods to the Trans-Pecos, from the Valley to the Panhandle.
Nowhere is the impact more visible than in the stadiums built by school districts. Just in the Dallas area, at least $100 million will be spent on new varsity stadiums to be completed in 2005 and 2006. That's on top of nearly $79 million last year and this year.
"Other parts of the country think their high school football is big. It ain't," says Johnny Bledsoe, president of Waco-based Sturdisteel Co., which builds stadiums throughout the country.
High school football is big business not only for builders but also for restaurants, equipment makers, some segments of the travel industry, and the schools.
Fans spend at least $275 million a season on game tickets, programs, concessions, booster club merchandise, travel, meals and lodging, The Dallas Morning News estimates,with the assistance of economist Ray Perryman.
"That's conservative," says Perryman, a fan who lives just a few minutes from Odessa's Ratliff Stadium.
The total doesn't include advertising revenue from game-day programs, which can exceed $50,000 a year at larger schools, or stadium scoreboards. The Denton ISD is getting $47,600 a year from scoreboard advertisers at its new $20.1 million stadium, says athletic director Ken Purcell.
Perryman plugged the fan-spending total into his computerized economic model for the state, which shows how the impact multiplies as money flows through. It translates into almost $900 million in total spending each year and the equivalent of 8,800 full-time jobs, Perryman says.
He cautions that except for the playoffs, when fans travel farther and are more likely to stay overnight, much of the money would be spent anyway. It doesn't necessarily mean an increase in overall economic activity.
But don't tell that to Sheri Garza. In Forney, she keeps her Madres' Cocina restaurant open before and after games and serves about 160 customers she otherwise wouldn't. Average check: about $25 for three or four people. "Football has a very big impact for us," she says.
For two parents following a team, "it's easy to spend $1,000 during a season," says Laurie Barkham, president of the Forney Chamber of Commerce. One son played for the Jackrabbits last year and graduated. Another plays this season on the junior varsity. "You can't put a price on watching my kids," she says.
Feeding in
For many of the state's 620 Dairy Queen restaurants, predominantly located in smaller towns, Friday night business can increase from 30 to 70 percent on game nights, says Gene Brumbelow, president of the Texas Dairy Queen Operators Council.
Some DQs decorate in team colors, send discount cards to coaches, serve team buses and deliver meals to visiting-team locker rooms after games. "We're hand in glove with high school football," says Brumbelow, who owns seven stores, mainly in East Texas. Thursdays are big, too, he says, because of sub-varsity games.
One thing is certain about fans on game days, says Mansfield athletic director Debbie Weems: "They're not eating at home."
Mike George, head of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, says fans from smaller communities love coming to 19,300-seat Ratliff Stadium. About 6,000 attended the six-man championship game between Strawn and Fort Davis there last December. Many visitors shop at Odessa stores and go to other attractions.
Another indirect impact is the manpower from the media.
FSN Southwest has 25 people at its studios in Las Colinas on Friday nights and takes feeds from 17 TV stations around the state to produce its High School Scoreboard Live, which airs at midnight and again at 9 a.m. Saturdays, says general manager John Heidtke.
The Dallas Morning News covers about 100 games in person with either staff writers or free-lancers, says high school sports editor Dennis Hall. Including clerks and editors, about 165 people are involved at some point each Friday in producing the 14 pages of high school football coverage that appear in different editions of the Saturday paper.
Chuck Kelly, owner of Metro Sports Communications, says about three dozen teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have their games on the radio. Broadcasts involving top teams, such as Southlake Carroll and Highland Park, can generate total advertising sales of $100,000 during the regular season, he says. Metro Sports handles both schools and has a crew of seven at each game.
10,000-plus
Sturdisteel's Bledsoe says that in other states, even football hotbeds such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and California, 6,000- to 7,000-seat high school football stadiums are considered large. Not so in Texas. Just in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, there are 21 stadiums that seat 10,000 or more. More will be completed in the area by 2006.
Southern Bleacher Co. of Graham is probably the largest builder of steel stadiums in the country, erecting about 200 a year, says owner Sherrill Pettus. Jobs range in size from $50,000 to $500,000, without amenities such as locker rooms, restrooms, concession stands or press boxes.
The company builds about 30 football stadiums a year in Texas, mainly for public and private high schools and middle schools.
SHW Sports, a division of SHW Group of Dallas, specializes in helping school districts plan and design concrete sports facilities, which are generally more expensive than steel and aluminum.
Senior vice president Tom Oehler said his company has handled $280 million in projects in the last 3 ½ years, many of them involving football, most of them in Texas. Houston, he says, has seen the same stadium-building surge as Dallas.
It's estimated that fans will spend at least $275 million
04:39 PM CDT on Friday, September 3, 2004
By GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News
When those Friday night lights come on in Texas, and an estimated 1.2 million fans a week are drawn to them, the economic impact is felt in small towns and large cities, from the Piney Woods to the Trans-Pecos, from the Valley to the Panhandle.
Nowhere is the impact more visible than in the stadiums built by school districts. Just in the Dallas area, at least $100 million will be spent on new varsity stadiums to be completed in 2005 and 2006. That's on top of nearly $79 million last year and this year.
"Other parts of the country think their high school football is big. It ain't," says Johnny Bledsoe, president of Waco-based Sturdisteel Co., which builds stadiums throughout the country.
High school football is big business not only for builders but also for restaurants, equipment makers, some segments of the travel industry, and the schools.
Fans spend at least $275 million a season on game tickets, programs, concessions, booster club merchandise, travel, meals and lodging, The Dallas Morning News estimates,with the assistance of economist Ray Perryman.
"That's conservative," says Perryman, a fan who lives just a few minutes from Odessa's Ratliff Stadium.
The total doesn't include advertising revenue from game-day programs, which can exceed $50,000 a year at larger schools, or stadium scoreboards. The Denton ISD is getting $47,600 a year from scoreboard advertisers at its new $20.1 million stadium, says athletic director Ken Purcell.
Perryman plugged the fan-spending total into his computerized economic model for the state, which shows how the impact multiplies as money flows through. It translates into almost $900 million in total spending each year and the equivalent of 8,800 full-time jobs, Perryman says.
He cautions that except for the playoffs, when fans travel farther and are more likely to stay overnight, much of the money would be spent anyway. It doesn't necessarily mean an increase in overall economic activity.
But don't tell that to Sheri Garza. In Forney, she keeps her Madres' Cocina restaurant open before and after games and serves about 160 customers she otherwise wouldn't. Average check: about $25 for three or four people. "Football has a very big impact for us," she says.
For two parents following a team, "it's easy to spend $1,000 during a season," says Laurie Barkham, president of the Forney Chamber of Commerce. One son played for the Jackrabbits last year and graduated. Another plays this season on the junior varsity. "You can't put a price on watching my kids," she says.
Feeding in
For many of the state's 620 Dairy Queen restaurants, predominantly located in smaller towns, Friday night business can increase from 30 to 70 percent on game nights, says Gene Brumbelow, president of the Texas Dairy Queen Operators Council.
Some DQs decorate in team colors, send discount cards to coaches, serve team buses and deliver meals to visiting-team locker rooms after games. "We're hand in glove with high school football," says Brumbelow, who owns seven stores, mainly in East Texas. Thursdays are big, too, he says, because of sub-varsity games.
One thing is certain about fans on game days, says Mansfield athletic director Debbie Weems: "They're not eating at home."
Mike George, head of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, says fans from smaller communities love coming to 19,300-seat Ratliff Stadium. About 6,000 attended the six-man championship game between Strawn and Fort Davis there last December. Many visitors shop at Odessa stores and go to other attractions.
Another indirect impact is the manpower from the media.
FSN Southwest has 25 people at its studios in Las Colinas on Friday nights and takes feeds from 17 TV stations around the state to produce its High School Scoreboard Live, which airs at midnight and again at 9 a.m. Saturdays, says general manager John Heidtke.
The Dallas Morning News covers about 100 games in person with either staff writers or free-lancers, says high school sports editor Dennis Hall. Including clerks and editors, about 165 people are involved at some point each Friday in producing the 14 pages of high school football coverage that appear in different editions of the Saturday paper.
Chuck Kelly, owner of Metro Sports Communications, says about three dozen teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have their games on the radio. Broadcasts involving top teams, such as Southlake Carroll and Highland Park, can generate total advertising sales of $100,000 during the regular season, he says. Metro Sports handles both schools and has a crew of seven at each game.
10,000-plus
Sturdisteel's Bledsoe says that in other states, even football hotbeds such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida and California, 6,000- to 7,000-seat high school football stadiums are considered large. Not so in Texas. Just in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, there are 21 stadiums that seat 10,000 or more. More will be completed in the area by 2006.
Southern Bleacher Co. of Graham is probably the largest builder of steel stadiums in the country, erecting about 200 a year, says owner Sherrill Pettus. Jobs range in size from $50,000 to $500,000, without amenities such as locker rooms, restrooms, concession stands or press boxes.
The company builds about 30 football stadiums a year in Texas, mainly for public and private high schools and middle schools.
SHW Sports, a division of SHW Group of Dallas, specializes in helping school districts plan and design concrete sports facilities, which are generally more expensive than steel and aluminum.
Senior vice president Tom Oehler said his company has handled $280 million in projects in the last 3 ½ years, many of them involving football, most of them in Texas. Houston, he says, has seen the same stadium-building surge as Dallas.