While CHS sports such as football and basketball have always received a substantial number of viewers, other sports such as swimming and track struggle to get support in the stands. Therefore, the more popular sports have always been the only ones to charge for admission. The appeal to attend the less popular sport games is currently decreasing due to the Marmonte League’s new mandate that all sports charge admission fees. Requiring parents to buy tickets to watch their children participate for only a short length of time is unfair. Knowing that they will have to pay to enter a game, parents and students without Associated Student Body identification cards will be less willing to attend games.
Although some players may participate in entire games, certain members of the track, tennis and swim teams play for shorter periods of time. Forcing parents to pay to watch their children for only a few minutes is unreasonable. Parents of athletes are already required to make large contributions to their children’s sports programs. They should be able to watch a game for free, especially after paying these high expenses.
“It’s ridiculous that parents have to pay to see their [children] partake in athletics,” said varsity swimmer junior Emily Barber. “[They] already pay a large transportation fee and [have to pay] for our equipment. It’s also unfair that the [admission] money is going to the athletics department as a whole, rather than each program.”
This revenue will go to the collective athletics department of CHS as a whole, and extra revenue will fund traveling sports. However, the only sport that has needed money for traveling to distant playoff games in recent years is basketball; therefore, charging admission for all sports in order to support this cause is unjust. The money that is made from charging admission for a track meet should fund the track team, not the basketball team.
Because the majority of sports are not widely attended, CHS should be aiming to increase the appeal of watching these sports. Many sports also make significant amounts of revenue from their popular snack shacks. If more students are unable to enter these games, the snack shacks will not generate as much profit. Consequently, these admission fees can lead to sport programs losing money.
Although the Marmonte League may believe that charging admission for every sport will raise money, many of these programs will suffer from this change. As the allure to attend sport games decreases, so will the morale of the teams and their players.
