Prep sports ticket prices to increase this fall
By Ken Leinart
It will cost more to attend Knox County Schools sporting events beginning this fall.
Knox County Board of Education brought up the proposal during a Monday, July 8, workshop session to raise ticket prices for attending high school football games to $10, and basketball tickets to $8. All other high school sporting events will see a $1 increase, as well as a $1 increase for middle school sporting events, moving the cost to $7.
The board passed the increase, to be in place when the 2024-2025 school year begins, Thursday night, July 11, during its regular monthly meeting.
Knox County Schools Assistant Superintendent Keith Wilson said the new ticket prices bring the system in line with surrounding systems.
Ticket prices will be the same for students and non-students.
“If you recognize the cost to officiate and hold these games and run effective programs … If that isn’t done it would raise the fees for student athletes to participate,” he said.
It is not a popular option.
“I’m struggling with this,” Board Chair and 6th District Representative Betsy Henderson said.
“I do recognize that all the prices are going up in everything, but the flip side to me is, parents and families are also struggling because of rising prices in groceries and just everything else.
“That’s where I struggle. From a family’s perspective. If they have three kids and they’re paying that every week … I’m just having a hard time with this item.”
Board members Jennifer Owen (2nd District) and Daniel Watson (3rd District) asked about schools possibly offering student pricing.
“Is that possible? To have two different pricing scales?” Watson asked.
Bryan Brown, Athletics Specialist with the system, said, “Two different prices would be difficult for workers at the gate.”
The board’s attorney, Gary Dupler, said schools can give discounts for season tickets and “things of that nature.”
But, he added, pricing needs to be consistent throughout the Knox County System.
“We can’t have one school, and I’m not going to name schools … One high school saying, ‘No discounts, no way, no how,’ and another school offering multiple discounts,” he said.
Brown said in looking at surrounding districts – Anderson County, Alcoa, etc. – who have adopted the “10-8-7” pricing structure, a two tier ticket structure is “not a common practice.”
“Typically schools don’t do that for football and basketball because they are the most well attended events in their school,” he said. He added that some schools offer ticket incentives for the lesser attended sports —soccer, softball, volleyball, and even baseball — to attract students to the games.
All receipts from a game’s gate stay with the host school. He noted the burden of travel expenses are those of the school on the road and many schools, especially the large number of Knox County Schools playing in the post-season, rely on gate receipts from the season to partially help offset those costs.
He pointed out that any Knox County school attending the “Spring Fling” state championships last spring could see a cost of up to $12,000 for the four-day event.
Nearly 60% of Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s annual support comes from gate receipts of postseason tournaments organized by TSSAA.
“I hate that we have to do it,” Board Member Susan Horn (5th District) said.
