Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-10-30
FOOTBALL Is VERY
COSTLY SORT OF FUN
While Games Bring in Thousands In
Receipts, Victorious Elevens
Come High.

and maintaining 1t, says the New York
World. Those who base their esti-
mates on seeing the immense crowds OF
10000 and more pouring into the great
fields to see the big games imagine the
season yields a huge profit. When
Yale plays Princeton or Harvard. the
crimson meets Pennsylvania, and Mich
igan struggles with Chicago. most of
the spectators probably wendAf what
becomes of the immesse financial re-
turns, for. as a rule. price as high is
charged for football seats as it costs
to go to the best OF the theaters.
Considering that players give their
services, it would seem a reasonable
theory that after all expenses are paid
there should still be an enormous prof
it. 1t might be but for the surprising
outlay. Football does yield a profit at
all the big colleges, but nothing like
what would be imagined 1t is the
money maker of the athletic family
but costs the most to keep. 1t sup
ports itself, rowing, hockey. lacrosse,
swimming and indoor athletics and lets
baseball work for itself.
All the children of the backbone Of
college sport are expensive and eat a
large portion of father footballs in
come, especially his Neptunic daugh-
tiers the Misses Crew. but the old
man himself is the most extravagant
The outlay has begun, and the next
few weeks will see money layished on
the greatest of college games in man.
ner to stagSer the credulity of those
who have not examined into the figures
and do not realize what the sport costs
annually.
At Yale last year it cost $4,000 To
pay the running expenses, such as ho-
tel bills, railroad fare, training table
and football equipment, and when to
this is added the salaries of the coaches
and cost of improvements to the ath-
letic plant 1t is probable that the grid
iron bill was as much as PRESIDENT
Roosevelt receives for his years sal
cry. And Yale is only one OF n dozen
big colleges where money is poured out
like water. No team can have Win
ner without this outlay. The three big
winners last year were Yale. Pennsyl-
vauia and Michigan.
| This year. in addition 10 having the
usual high priced coaching system,
with Byron Dickson in charge, tie
Quakers have the services Of the high
est priced trainer in the business, Mike
Murphy, formerly of Yale, who is ad-
mittedly the greatest developer of ath-
letic talent the United States has ever
seen. Murphy is to look after the base
ball and track team as well as the
gridiron stars. For this he will get
5000 year, and for signing the con-
tracts that took him from Yale TO Penn
he was made present of house
Yost of Michigan certainly does not
make less than 5000 yearly out OF
football Harvard has been equally
lavish in the matter of outlay, and this
year, in the hope of having her football
fortunes retrieved, is paying the big
gest salary ever given to a coach-$I.-
OOO This will go to Bill Reid, captain
of the crimson team that beat Yale.
Considering he will only work three
months, il is pay at the rate OF 2S,oOO
a year-more than any professor in the
college or even its president gets.
Harvard and Pennsylvania alike
have been under extraordinary ex-
the establishment OF their athletic
fields. The stadium at Cambridge and
the structures at Franklin field. Phila-
deiphia. are concededly the finest of
their kind in existence, and each cost
in the neighborhood of half a million
dollars.
In examining into the things for
which money is expended the list fur
| MI Nv yata Is
typical This shows that railroad
fare for the season cost $3.50: hotels
and meals, $3.50; merchandise and
sporting goods, $3.135; shoes and re-
pairs. S1.O6J; training table, 1881;
printing and stationery. $685.; stenog-
raphy, typewriting and clerical serv-
ices. S1,9o5; carriages. ST9O: coach's
expenses, 500; freight, express and
carriage. S45; press clippings. s25; rub
bers. 1915; doctors and medicines,
$3.50; referees, timekeepers. etc, S4SJ;
labor and material at field. $3.50;
trophies. s120. and legal advice. 1865.
a total of s25.556.
1t is more than likely that the cur
rent season will see a big increase in
the above amounts. Princeton and
Harvard are especially likely to plunge
IN for big sums. These colleges are
anxious to make up for their defeat at
the hands and feet of Yale and are
prepared to spend money right and
left In order to make success possible.
The sums mentioned above are those
spent by the larger colleges. In pro
portion the smaller ones are equally
lavish. Ii took an offer OF $4,000
| wear TO take Coach Glenn Warner from
Carlisle TO Ithaca, and Coaches New
ton and Bull, who hook after the foot
ball fortunes of Lafayette and Lehigh.
get in the neighborhood OF 5000 each
Chicago is very liberal to Coach Stagg
But there seems TO be no check TO
''frenzied football" for as long as the