Kooper Holman is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Saguaro High School for AZPreps365.com.

Where does the money come from? 

With most states around the country cutting public school budgets, including their athletic departments, football programs have to rely on outside donations to stay competitive.

Whether in Arizona or Texas, schools have one common goal when it comes to athletics: raising enough money to help offset statewide budget cuts happening throught the United States. 

A problem that requires complex resolutions.

For most schools, football is the money maker. With the most teams and roster spots to fill, there’s more student-athletes playing football than any other sport. High school programs have to use outside resources to handle in-season expenses.

Player dues, sponsors, and any sort of fundraising support the economic infrastructure within high school football, but how do schools find the money?

At Saguaro High, Sabercat football foundation president Chris Somerville and vice president Lana Bull lead the operation in bringing in money for the team. With multiple sponsorship packages and the choice to “Sponsor-A-Player,” Saguaro has created ways to receive donations, big and small. 

Somerville was passionate about what his group does to support their team and doing everything they can to keep their sponsors happy. Whether it’s the banners seen from Hayden Road hanging from their stands, a banner on one of the a-frames used on the field, or a small shoutout on their scoreboard, Saguaro’s goal is to have a professional look around their stadium sponsors love. 

“We want to give back that advertising that people can see inside and outside of the stadium,” Somerville said. “We’ll promote them wherever, on our website or on the field. We just want to make sure they get their money’s worth when they sponsor our team.”

With 40 sponsors this season, Saguaro saw a big jump in sponsorships following their championship run last year. Finishing last season with $40,000, Saguaro saw their doubled their current balance statement heading into this year, raising just over $80,000 for this season.

“People want to be affiliated with championship programs,” Somerville said. “So when it comes to our sponsorships we need to ‘match that energy’ as the young people say nowadays.”  

Whether it’s Rockin’ Protein feeding the players after the game, Guard Mouthguards making custom mouthguards for the varsity players, or Albertsons on Hayden and Indian Bend providing the halftime snacks for players, any successful high school football program has a great community behind it.

With Saguaro being one of the big time schools in Arizona, what is their comparison to schools in Texas where high school football is basically a religion?

Where Texas might use different methods of fundraising, just like Arizona, Texas schools need help from boosters and local businesses to keep their programs competitive.

Amarillo High School’s football team, a 5A school in Amarillo, Texas, comes in with a booster club support of $55,000. The football booster club has gone above and beyond to support their team.

“This last season we’ve done coupon sales, a popcorn fundraiser, and tailgates before the game where we sell burgers and pulled pork sandwiches,” Amarillo booster club vice president Keitha Ivey said. "For sponsors, we sell ads in our program that we sell before the game.”

Another creative way Amarillo High raises money is their annual Lift-A-Thon.

The players get a donor to pledge a certain amount of money per pound. For example, if a player squatted 350 pounds, bench pressed 240 and the donor pledged 50 cents per pound they’d donate $295 to the program.

In each of the recent years, over $20,000 has been raised from the Lift-A-Thon.

While Amarillo High has their unique ways of raising money, no one does it quite like Vega High school, a small 2A high school in Vega, Texas.

While Vega may small in population, they have a better booster club than a lot of 4A and 5A schools. 

Under 1,000 people reside in Vega as the entire high school has only 125 students. For comparison, Saguaro High, at 1,183 students, is more populated than the entire town of Vega.

Vega raises money through its community.

No one is a stranger in this town. 

Whether they’re playing nine holes at Oldham County Country Club or watching their hometown team at Longhorn Field on Friday nights, the town is connected like none other. 

Vega’s booster budget is at a whooping $35,000.

“They help us in ways that nobody will ever see,” said Vega athletic director and head football coach, Jason Porton said. “They support the bells and whistles of our product. Just this last year we got help with sleds, running backs shoots, and headsets.”