Business group trying to keep Valley junior college football alive beyond 2018

A group of local businessmen, led by sports advocates Don Kile, Ward Hickey and Rob Yowell, is trying to keep junior college football in the Valley alive beyond the 2018 season.

Azcentral sports obtained a letter that the Grand Canyon State Gridiron Club sent to the four Maricopa County Community College presidents whose schools have football programs, as well as Maria Harper-Marinick, chancellor for the community-college system with a proposition on how to make it work.

Earlier this week, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Glendale and Mesa community colleges were informed that, because of financial restraints, football will be eliminated following the 2018 season. A task force determined that it was no longer feasible. About 290 students play college football at the four schools, and the district employs eight coaches.

Kile, the Gridiron Club president, was unavailable for comment. Yowell acknowledged that a letter was delivered to the chancellor. outlining a plan to keep community college football afloat beyond 2018. He declined further comment.

In the letter, the Gridiron Club proposes replacing district-sponsored funding with a privately funded platform that includes a combination of business funding, private funding, community philanthropy, commercial product placements and naming-rights sponsors.

The group believes that the "the underlying financial support must be restructured" and moved toward a private-funding model.

Kile and Yowell are longtime advocates of grassroots sports and sports tourism. They were part of the Phoenix Regional Sports Commission, which succeeded the Maricopa County Sports Authority.The commission revived the dormant Arizona Sports Hall of Fame and rescued the failing Grand Canyon State Games.

A representative from Maricopa Community Colleges was unavailable for immediate comment Thursday on the Gridiron Club's proposal.

The group explains in the letter that "a supported, comprehensive argument exploring the impact of maintaining or cancelling a football program would require an expensive and exhaustive study specific to the four individual institutions."

"Matters of capital expenditures to upgrade facilities to meet modern needs, ongoing operational costs, and ever-increasing insurance expenses would all need thorough study," it goes on to say. "The Gridiron Club does not suggest that such a study is necessary or expected."

The group wants to move directly to a private-funding model to sustain the programs and relieve the district exposure.

"Depending on your particular experiences as school administrators at your particular institutions, you may see football as a positive generator or a drain on resources," the letter states.

"The Gridiron Club believes in the benefits and will rely on the comments provided in the interviews with each coach and athletic director expressing their desire to maintain their programs if alternate funding and governance were available."

College officials said the state's decision to eliminate funding to the community colleges in 2008 played a role in the decision to cut football.

Unlike the football programs at big universities, junior-college football isn't a revenue generator. The programs don't have lucrative television contracts or big-money agreements with clothing companies.

MCCCD officials say football makes up 20 percent of the district's total athletic budget and is responsible for more than 50 percent of insurance costs. Ongoing costs to maintain the football programs could top $20 million in needed capital improvements and associated expenses, officials said.

College officials also looked at national trends. Of the 530 member colleges in the National Junior College Athletic Association, only 65 sponsor football programs, officials said.

Since the decision was announced, high-school coaches have not been shy in their criticism.

“This is a killer for kids who aren’t D-I scholarship players right out of high school," Casa Grande High School coach Jake Barro said earlier this week.

Arizona makes it especially difficult, he said, due to the fact that the state has only have two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics universities that play football and no universities in Division II or Division III.

Vail Cienega High School coach Pat Nugent said that junior colleges have helped Arizona kids develop physically and mentally for higher levels.

"We will have so many players miss out on the opportunity to go play football even if it was just for two more years" in junior college.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.