Why Does Football Get All the Attention?

BOSTON, U.S. -- Most high school sports are centered around football. But why is this -- and why does football get all the funding?

At Boston Latin School (BLS), many athletes feel that football gets
much more funding than any other sport. Michaella Jones, a member of the BLS crew team, replied, “Football gets a lot of the money and crew doesnʼt even get any funding.”

While the crew team does not get any funding from the athletic department, the cheerleading team does. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July 2010 that cheerleading is not a sport.

The football team gets a Varsity, Junior Varsity (JV) and Freshman team. Each team gets a coach bus to and from their games. The soccer teams are only allowed Varsity and JV teams. Both teams have to fit into one regular school bus, which is around 40 girls or boys on one bus with all of their soccer equipment and school bags. In addition, bus services hired for  other teams are not very trustworthy.

The athletic department spends more money on the buses for the football teams. To rent a regular school bus for 4-6 hours costs $350-575 and to rent a coach bus for the same amount of time costs $595-850.

So why does football get the upper hand with funding? “Itʼs considered the all
American sport. It was created in America so everyone is supposed to love it or at least that's what the media tells us,” said Adam Brown, a BLS sophomore. Many advertisements show people having fun at football
games and movies portray high school kidsʼ Friday nights dedicated just to football games with the “cool kids” being the ones attending the games.

With football being idealized in this way, many other sports are being deprived of funding and attention. Boston Latin School prides itself with
academic excellence and fairness for all. This standard needs to be examined in the athletic program as well.