DeKalb high schools must share sports wealth

At some schools in Georgia, such a crowd would buy uniforms at a school for every sport for a full year. In DeKalb, the revenue trickles back to the have-nots such as Clarkston and Cross Keys and Avondale, schools that often draw less than 1,000 for football games.

“I don’t necessarily agree with the whole thing,’’ said M.L. King coach Corey Jarvis, whose school had the larger share of the fans Friday night because it was their homecoming. “I’d like to see some of the money, but you understand the county must do it to survive. Some programs don’t have as much support.’’

DeKalb has 20 high schools whose football teams must be outfitted and supported and who share five stadiums. Like most metro Atlanta counties, the difference between the haves and the have-nots in athletics is stark. The band members outnumber fans at a handful of schools that struggle to win, but powerhouses such as M.L. King, Stephenson, Southwest DeKalb and Tucker draw on par with most any school in the area.

High schools in Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties have their own stadiums and get to keep what they make at home games. DeKalb’s policy is similar to the ones in Clayton County and in Atlanta city schools, which also share stadiums. Occasionally there is grumbling.

Last year, Tucker won a state championship but was the only one of 10 finalists that played in the Georgia Dome that didn’t get to keep its share of the Dome revenue. The $40,000 went to DeKalb County.

“I think it’s a travesty, especially the playoff part of it,’’ Tucker’s Franklin Stephens said. “It’s one thing to share general revenue or regular-season revenue, but it’s a whole ’nother story with playoff money. That’s bonus money for a team that’s gone out and been successful, and they don’t get their reward. Why should the county be privy to all that money?”

Stephens had been an assistant at Camden County, where crowds of 8,000 or more are routine to see one of South Georgia’s elite teams. Camden even buys out opponents so they’ll give up their home game and play on the road.

Meanwhile, M.L. King and Stephenson can’t even keep the $1,000 check from ESPN for televising Friday night’s game. Same goes for concession revenue. At Friday’s game, a caterer had a 22-item menu that attracted three lines that didn’t subside until the fourth quarter. Ten hot wings were going for $6.

But Stephenson coach Ron Gartrell wasn’t complaining. He notes that it’s nice sometimes not having to maintain a field or manage a game.

Before getting the Stephenson job when the school opened in 1996, he was head coach at Shamrock, which struggled to draw crowds before closing in 1995.

“We might get 10,000 and Cross Keys might get 500, but they’ve go to dress and feed their kids and recondition uniforms and helmets like everybody else,’’ Gartrell said. “I’ve been on both sides of this. We’re all in this together. If you come to DeKalb County, everybody understands it’s the way it is.”

-- Produced by Georgia High School Football Daily