Our starting budget for the high school athletic teams was $120,000. We also received a $20,000 donation from an alumni who played football. We were allowed to hold four fundraisers, and we chose the football team, the co-ed swimming team, and the two track and field teams, men's and women's. The fundraisers got us an additional $15,300. We also decided to charge the field hockey team $225 per player because that will allow them to cover all of their expenses which were some of the cheapest out of all sports. They are also one of the lowest ranked teams at the school. This gives us a total of $159,800.
After covering the necessary costs of $151,350 (bold items), our budget is $8,450. We decided to get new jerseys for men's soccer, women's soccer, hockey, and volleyball, and new suits for swimming. The total cost of these jerseys and suits was $7,400. We wanted to make sure that all of our athletes had jerseys that they could be proud to wear. They were also some of the simplest and cheapest needs. Our remaining budget is now $1,050. We used this remaining money to buy shot puts and discus for both the men's and women's track team. The shot puts cost $200 each and the discus cost $300 each for a total cost of $1,000. That leaves our budget at $50, and we no longer have enough money to purchase any other equipment.
The expenses that we left out were all large items with the cheapest one being $6,000 landing mats for both track field teams and $6,000 helmets for the football team. Since we are a high school with a small budget, these are items that we simply can't afford to purchase if we want to keep it free to participate in most of our athletic programs. If parents and students were willing to pay to play we could certainly buy more equipment, but tough choices must be made when operating within tight circumstances.
I think your concluding statement says it all - i.e., that "tough choices must be made when operating within tight circumstances." This is obviously the scenario that faces many athletic programs so hopefully you got a sense of what it would be like for many Athletic Directors. I had several questions: 1. Since the track teams are doing fundraising, did you consider that maybe they should have received funding for the landing mats? Also, since you are charging the hockey team to pay to play, will that continue to be required if they improve their status in the league? These are just a few things to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteGood entry!
Dr. Spencer