Southlake High Game Possibly to Be Televised from Ford

[MrMustang1965]

from the Star-Telegram:

SOUTHLAKE - It's a deal that would have most high school football teams salivating: nationally televised games against some of the top-ranked and best-known programs in the country.

For the third and fourth year in a row, it will happen in the Carroll school district.

In a deal approved by trustees 6-0 Monday night, the Carroll Dragons agreed to face Evangel Christian Academy of Shreveport, La., most likely on Sept. 14, and De La Salle High School of Concord, Calif., on Sept. 16, 2007. One trustee, Robert Glover, had to leave the meeting before the vote.

The deal is pending University Interscholastic League approval.

De La Salle cannot sign a contract more than a year before a game, said David Stephenson, president of TITUS Sports Marketing, which brokered the deal between Carroll and Chicago-based Paragon Marketing Group.

Officials at Evangel Christian Academy have already signed their contract, Stephenson said.

Carroll played Denton Ryan in 2004 and 2005 in televised games.

Under the agreement approved Monday, Paragon will retain all television rights, and will keep any revenue generated by advertisements not already in place between the Carroll district and local businesses.

Stephenson said that although Paragon will reap the advertising revenue, they also assume all the risk.

Paragon contracted with Stephenson's company to broker the deal with Carroll. And Paragon is covering the expense of bringing the teams to Texas.

Carroll will keep the gate receipts and the revenue from concessions and parking for the game against Evangel Christian, which will be played at Dragon Stadium. That should be on par with revenue from past home games that sold out, said Julie Thannum, Carroll's director of communications and marketing.

For the game against De La Salle, Carroll will retain 50 cents for every $5 student ticket sold and $1 for every $10 adult ticket sold. The game will be played in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, possibly at Texas Stadium or Southern Methodist University's Gerald J. Ford Stadium. The revenue will depend on how many tickets are sold, Thannum said. Carroll does not typically make money from an away game.

The growing number of 24-hour cable television stations with large markets have focused attention on top-seeded high school football teams, Stephenson said. "They're looking for programming," he said. "They've saturated the market with college football, and there is so much interest in high school football. Ten years ago, nobody from outside of Dallas-Fort Worth would have cared much about Southlake Carroll, but because of the Internet, fans in Florida or California not only know who Southlake Carroll is, they know who their star players are. And fans are intrigued by who really does play the best football."

Carroll football players are already talking about the possibilities.

"Our coach has kind of been telling us that there will be challenges ahead," said John Nathan who was a running back and safety on Carroll's freshman football team this year and hopes to play on the varsity team in the fall. "The other teams are good ... but I think we'll be ready. With all the work that we do, we will eventually be ready."

[PonyPride]

Can't hurt to have the nicest stadium in Texas on national TV.

[Mustangs35SMU]

I swear I heard the DLS game for 2007 was a lock already to be played at SMU. Maybe I heard wrong, atleast according that article I was.