Some companies are "buying exposure" through Texas high school football teams, but the influx of corporate money is "hard for some fans to reconcile with the sepia-toned view of high school football that they hold dear," according to Rebecca O'Brien of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The home opener for Cedar Hill High School "will be broadcast live on ESPN2, and the players will take the field decked out head-to-toe in Under Armour gear as stipulated by a sponsorship deal" the school signed in '14. Meanwhile, eight teams from the city of Frisco "will debut new Nike uniforms that are the product" of a new five-year, $1.74M deal with the company. The teams "will square off in a quadruple header that is also the opening" of the 12,000-seat domed Ford Center. The Allen Independent School District "has a deal with Nike and plays in an 18,000-seat stadium dotted with Coca-Cola ads." The district this year "expects to take in $238,000 in stadium sponsorships." Nike provides the Allen High School team $30,000 "worth of products and a set of uniforms each year." The contract "also provides for annual uniforms for a non-football team ... plus some $75,000 more in products over the five-year contract term." The contract "requires football players and staff to wear exclusively Nike products during practices, games and other team activities." A Nike banner "must be displayed at all Allen home games." Greg Tepper, the Managing Editor of Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine, said, "It's becoming more and more of a big business. The differences between high-school football and college are becoming blurred" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/26).
