Caleb Curtis
Reporter
Although it has never been done, Crowder College should add a football team.
Crowder College has never had a football team in its 56-year history. However, with JUCO football rising in popularity, now is the time for the RoughRiders to take the gridiron. It may be a long shot, but having a football team would be beneficial for the school and students.
Some may say that football is too dangerous of a sport and that it costs too much money, but that’s flat out wrong. Football is becoming increasingly safe. With new helmets and technology, head injuries are becoming a thing of the past. As far as money goes, football produces more money than it costs, and that’s beneficial for the school.
Football generates the most money of any college sport, and it’s not even close. The average JUCO football program in the state of Kansas grossed over $570k in 2017. In most college athletic programs, the revenue from football accounts for over half of its revenue.
Junior college football is becoming increasingly more popular nationwide. Netflix aired an original show Last Chance U in 2016, and the show was an instant hit. It featured players who were kicked out of Division I football and are on their last leg, while hoping to make it back to D1. When Independence Community College was announced as the featured team for season three, it gained a great deal of popularity for all the schools in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference(KJCCC), which features schools in this region.
Adding a football program would give more athletes a second chance and increase the school’s potential to have prestigious alumni. 15 former JUCO football players were taken in the 2019 NFL draft, including two first round picks. Other prestigious JUCO football players include Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Jason Pierre-Paul. Players who make it to the league will often give generous donations to their former schools, and that could be beneficial for Crowder.
Between just three Division I football programs in the area(Arkansas, Tulsa, Arkansas State) there are 43 junior college transfers. That’s 43 players who were given a second chance and took it. That’s from just three of the 130 FBS programs.
Now, say Crowder were to get a football team, what would happen? To keep things cheaper for the first couple of seasons, we could use Bob Anderson Stadium, Neosho High School’s field. Many JUCO football teams share a field with a high school team.
Next, the team would more than likely join the KJCCC, the addition of Crowder would make it a nine team conference for football, and make it a nice and round eight-game conference schedule. After that, who knows what happens next, football is an unpredictable game, but I could imagine Crowder getting its own football stadium after some of that revenue comes in, and having some alumni turn into D1 football players.
When it comes to the rules requiring Crowder to having an equal number of male and female sports, the school could just as easily field a women’s soccer team. In the end, there is minimal downside with the first year expenses and an unlimited potential with a Crowder College football team taking the field.
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