HS football in Tampa is dead ... our one terrible local paper doesn't even cover High School sports anymore. There was one half of one page of coverage today. Same thing last week. We used to have two papers that had three to five pages of coverage every Saturday...
Now that we are in full "free agency" mode, most districts in most metro areas will be dominated by one team. As teams that were at one time at least "moderately-competitive" get trounced, interest will continue to wane and media coverage will continue to shrink.
It's not necessary to be a five time undefeated Jeopardy champion to figure this out. All it takes is a bit of common sense. Destroy competition, destroy interest.
A few weeks ago, Nu'Trelle posted about a interstate match-up televised on ESPN and hosted by
Lakewood (OH) St Edwards. Home stands looked 35-40% empty. Nu'Trelle asked "Why?" No one offered an answer.
Nu'Trelle provided a hint. He explained that he showed up at St. Ed's one Saturday night when they hosted Cincinnati Moeller. Both teams were Top 5 of Division I (largest class in OH) and both were loaded with D-1 prospects. It was the only game in town, yet the stadium was only half-full and Nu'Trelle sat on the 50 yard line.
The answer: St. Edwards always plays with a roster of full-blown "mercenaries" - players who have been talked into leaving other schools in the greater Cleveland area. The Eagles, as well as fellow private school powerhouse
Cleveland St. Ignacious, each have modest fan bases, but each is almost universally despised by Clevelanders ... not because of their success, but how they have gone about achieving it.
You couldn't get most fans to go watch a game in that stadium if you offered free tickets and a limo ride. The program is THAT MUCH despised.
