Evening star., 1925-08-31

began to realize that the tre-
mendous investments in stadia, the
Rdesperate competition for players, to-
4 gether with the big staffs of coaches
and trainers, gradually were building
sNp the impression that foot BAH was
Eprimarily a commercial enterprise.
~ The sporadic outbreaks of the re-
Formers. who shoot all around the is
4 sue without hitting the mark, have
done nothing more than to augment
this feeling.
z Frenzied Finance.
- | have given much thought to this
matter. and | believe that the best
,1hing to be done is to tell the real
story of the average annual foot bali
financial budget.
You will recall that such budget Is
submitted by the graduate ma hager to
AIhe faculty committee every year and
%s,uhlished
But it is not the real budget.
1t does not carry the items Of the
: no mans land to which ] have
previously referred in this series.
We will APPROACH this domain by
outlining the main details of this re-
port. l have before me the 1924 re-
port of big Eastern university. For
obvious reasons. I am not giving it in
exactly detail. but have only slightly
, altered the items and the totals are
virtually correct.
The totai foot ball receipts were
s523 ,000-the first year in which this
university has passed the half million
mark. The disbursements include
S293, 900 of legitimate and open eX-
penses, fully and faithfully reported.
These are: To visiting teams, $780,
900: $50 900 to "small-timers" who are
promised guarantees when the Sched-
ules are arranged; BIS, 900, including
such items as uplleep of athletic fields,
. stadium, repairs, preparing programs,
i equipment for team. officials and at
&<endants, hotels. travelling expenses,
etc.
No Mans Land.
In following down this list from here
on YOU enter mo mans land"
This is where harassed graduate
manager and his coach find way of
doing the impossible.
"Rubbers and supplies is useful
item Many a freshman. ineligible the
first year. but promising material Tor
the next year. has been taken care or
as rubber" Sometimes the rats
and widows" get by as tutors. some
times under other ciassifcations; the
scouts are slipped in in any possible
oEy or a premedical course usually
ca be worked into the doctors squad.
/ never have known this zone of the
report being used to carry any direct
payment of money to players. l nave
known il to be used innumerable times
in creating various soft jobs by which
we carry along players whom we
would be unable to retain otherwise.
The above total of s293 900 deducted
from $523 900 leaves $3.50, 600. The
items which / have selected as prop
erly belonging to mo mans land,
and which, as they appear, do not dis
close the real expenditures, total in
this report $4,000.
trEhat is about the margin in which
the graduate manager works-say
from about S125. 900 to $150,000 in a
bfg American college.
Paying for Other Sports.
Deducting the s1S7 600. we have left
Ss3 900 Foot bah usu"liy carries
About Is other sports which are main
tsined at loss. College base ball
usually will show loss Of about
SIS 600 a season. Basket ball. hockey.
tennis. lacrosse. soccer, wrestling,
boxing. fencing. swimming and golf
show losses of from $1,000 to $4,000.
In the report ! have before me the
total loss of other sports carried by
foot bali is about $50 900. Deduct
irs this from the remaining foot bah
Receipts, there still Is profit or
Roughly $4,000.
" Foot ball not only has kept col
$lese athletics solvent. but In sup
Lportifg the other branches ef college
Aports it has Ystly widened the del