On Saturday the increasingly fast-growing eyes of high school football will descend on New Jersey as Don Bosco Prep visits Bergen Catholic. Extra seats have been added, the TV cameras of MSG Varsity will roll in, even ESPN radio will be doing a live webcast. Lots of hype for one program that travels the country crushing opponents and another back to the top after a slide. two great names, two great traditions, and a great showcase for the schools.
So what else can this game b.
What will be interesting, even this early in a football season, is how the game can be leveraged by the haves to help the have nots. Both are very popular private schools with string academic and athletic reputations. Even in a challenged economy, the price of tuition by many is still seen as an investment. Yet at the same time many smaller New Jersey schools, like Paterson Catholic, as well as the vast number of public schools, continue to have to cut services because of lack of funding. Can the window of this game, and others like it, give the casual fan, the local brand, or the major brand, be a vehicle to lure dollars back into high school sports in New Jersey and can it work in other state.
Don Bosco has made a great case for their national schedule by saying that it showcases all that is good about New Jersey to a national audience. That may be true for one school, but can’t it be also good for others in the are. It is not a charity or a vanity play by a brand to get involved in high school sports. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be about the game itself. It is about a brand gaining access to passionate, committed followers, many of whom support and give time to those who support the programs they assist. On the college level, a nationally televised game always has institutional spots not just about the schools participating, but also about the accomplishments of the conference. can’t these elite high school games do the same thin.
Yes it is good to hear from thsoe playing and coaching in the game, but to use the window to also tel. a larger picture story about other student-athletes, or parents or schools, as a requirement to broadcast can help so many more than those just playing under the bright lights. yes there are egos involved, and there is no doubt that the schools that actually are successful have made large committments to be there, probably even more than the schools that fail to win, because that is their priority. However the end game should still be about broad based education and finding unique ways to bring in new dollars to support all, not just the elite.
There are firms who are out there pitching wide ranging programs to help schools self fund after school programs. However many times those pitches are piecemeal because they lack the largest component a brand can get…free wide ranging media. That is what a big game like Bosco-BC can bring to all. The loudest voice possible for all, and the ability to have the biggest brand effect for both the haves and the have nots.
That ability to deliver can make winners of so many schools, as well as for brands that can come in and assist, who may never get the chance to really win on the field.
There are many critics that say we should not over commercialize the high school level. That there may be a dilution of services as one brand grows and another doesn’t. however this is an open market, and any brand looking to be entreprenurial should have that opportunity if they can present a plan that makes the most sense, and one of those plans should and could include using the existing assets, like a big deal televised football game, for the widest, most long term good. It doesn’t lessen or expand the hype or the value, it actually enhances the value.
All in all a great opportunity to give a big game even bigger brand value.
