Blog
Friday, July 11, 2008
Gas is a real pain
On Wednesday we ran an article on our Alabama site in which Jeff Sentell at The Birmingham News discussed the difficulties schools are starting to experience financially as a result of the high gas prices. Here are some excerpts from the article which was entitled Diesel costs may lead to fewer school team trips:
"Think about your reaction when you fill up the tank. I'm about to share how it could be worse."
"Do you think that wallop to the wallet would be worse if you had to top off a school bus bound for a big football game? What about a volleyball game or a summer 7-on-7 passing league scrimmage?"
"According to www.etrucker.com, the average retail cost for a gallon of diesel fuel was $4.75 in Alabama last week. The 48-person school bus common to Alabama prep teams gets about seven to eight miles per gallon. Those buses have a 100-gallon tank."
"It costs a high school team almost $500 to fill up a tank for about 700 to 800 miles of travel. Gasbuddy.com tracks a rise from $2.78 to $4.73 over the past year in Alabama."
Jeff goes on to cite examples of what states are already doing as a result, ranging from cutting back on JV and freshmen games to cutting the number of varsity games for all sports except football (which is happening in Mississippi). He also references what is going on in Tennessee:
"The Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association voted this summer to drastically alter its classification format to cut transportation costs. Regular-season games - including those in division play - will be scheduled more on proximity than school size. Smaller schools might be lumped into regions with bigger schools."
An article on the Athletic Business News website talks about other areas of the country with similar problems. Gas Crunch by Michael Popke concentrates on A.C. Reynolds High in Asheville, N.C.:
"Regular unleaded was at $3.80 per gallon and eventually topped $4 - spelling trouble for A.C. Reynolds' teams, many of which regularly spend four hours traveling to and from conference games. Last year, combined travel expenses for the Rockets' varsity and non-varsity athletic teams reached $50,000. This year, costs were estimated at $65,000, and the expectation is that transportation costs could reach $90,000 during the 2008-09 academic year."
"In April, (A.C. Reynolds High School athletic director Jim) Sziksai mandated that his coaches limit all non-conference games beginning this fall to within a 50-mile radius. If they want to travel farther, teams will be responsible for financing the additional mileage. Sziksai also suspended the athletic department's four-year cycle of uniform purchasing, asking teams due to receive new uniforms next season to make do with the old ones for another year. The school's annual student-athlete fee also increased from $25 to $36 to help offset the increase in transportation costs - although that won't be nearly enough."
"Our biggest concern used to be time spent on the road and out of class, because we would have to leave an hour and a half before school let out," Sziksai says. "That is still an issue, but our athletes have adjusted to that by making up schoolwork. Now, the main concern is financial. We've never had anything like this, when we've had to worry about something so much. I've lost my hair trying to get us through this crisis."
Popke cites other ideas, too- "Merrill F. West High School in Tracy, Calif., is considering charging student-athletes a $100 per-sport travel fee. Administrators at schools in Aiken County, Ga., asked the school board there for $500 per team to offset rising costs of both bus fuel and game security, but the money simply isn't available. And in New Hampshire, where teams travel all over the state to play each other, efforts have been made to schedule games at neutral sites, located midway between opposing schools."
He goes on to say "Inflated fuel costs are pinching interscholastic sports programs in other ways, too. Many athletic departments rely solely on gate receipts and booster club efforts to fund their teams, and soaring costs along with a slumping economy have cut into attendance figures nationwide."
Schools will be looking for quick fixes for this year's budgets and, especially in 2009-2010, more creative ways to schedule in the future. I recommend you read both of the linked articles and also ask that you email me with links to other articles as you see them. This topic is going to be more and more prevalent as time goes on.
Posted by CoachT at 10:30 AM · 1916 Views · COMMENTS
"Think about your reaction when you fill up the tank. I'm about to share how it could be worse."
"Do you think that wallop to the wallet would be worse if you had to top off a school bus bound for a big football game? What about a volleyball game or a summer 7-on-7 passing league scrimmage?"
"According to www.etrucker.com, the average retail cost for a gallon of diesel fuel was $4.75 in Alabama last week. The 48-person school bus common to Alabama prep teams gets about seven to eight miles per gallon. Those buses have a 100-gallon tank."
"It costs a high school team almost $500 to fill up a tank for about 700 to 800 miles of travel. Gasbuddy.com tracks a rise from $2.78 to $4.73 over the past year in Alabama."
Jeff goes on to cite examples of what states are already doing as a result, ranging from cutting back on JV and freshmen games to cutting the number of varsity games for all sports except football (which is happening in Mississippi). He also references what is going on in Tennessee:
"The Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association voted this summer to drastically alter its classification format to cut transportation costs. Regular-season games - including those in division play - will be scheduled more on proximity than school size. Smaller schools might be lumped into regions with bigger schools."
An article on the Athletic Business News website talks about other areas of the country with similar problems. Gas Crunch by Michael Popke concentrates on A.C. Reynolds High in Asheville, N.C.:
"Regular unleaded was at $3.80 per gallon and eventually topped $4 - spelling trouble for A.C. Reynolds' teams, many of which regularly spend four hours traveling to and from conference games. Last year, combined travel expenses for the Rockets' varsity and non-varsity athletic teams reached $50,000. This year, costs were estimated at $65,000, and the expectation is that transportation costs could reach $90,000 during the 2008-09 academic year."
"In April, (A.C. Reynolds High School athletic director Jim) Sziksai mandated that his coaches limit all non-conference games beginning this fall to within a 50-mile radius. If they want to travel farther, teams will be responsible for financing the additional mileage. Sziksai also suspended the athletic department's four-year cycle of uniform purchasing, asking teams due to receive new uniforms next season to make do with the old ones for another year. The school's annual student-athlete fee also increased from $25 to $36 to help offset the increase in transportation costs - although that won't be nearly enough."
"Our biggest concern used to be time spent on the road and out of class, because we would have to leave an hour and a half before school let out," Sziksai says. "That is still an issue, but our athletes have adjusted to that by making up schoolwork. Now, the main concern is financial. We've never had anything like this, when we've had to worry about something so much. I've lost my hair trying to get us through this crisis."
Popke cites other ideas, too- "Merrill F. West High School in Tracy, Calif., is considering charging student-athletes a $100 per-sport travel fee. Administrators at schools in Aiken County, Ga., asked the school board there for $500 per team to offset rising costs of both bus fuel and game security, but the money simply isn't available. And in New Hampshire, where teams travel all over the state to play each other, efforts have been made to schedule games at neutral sites, located midway between opposing schools."
He goes on to say "Inflated fuel costs are pinching interscholastic sports programs in other ways, too. Many athletic departments rely solely on gate receipts and booster club efforts to fund their teams, and soaring costs along with a slumping economy have cut into attendance figures nationwide."
Schools will be looking for quick fixes for this year's budgets and, especially in 2009-2010, more creative ways to schedule in the future. I recommend you read both of the linked articles and also ask that you email me with links to other articles as you see them. This topic is going to be more and more prevalent as time goes on.
