All-Sports Passes Offered At Local High Schools

MADISON- The 2018-1019 high school athletic season gets underway this week with four sports jumping into action. Football, volleyball, cross country and swimming teams all see their fall seasons kickoff with the winter and spring seasons to follow.

The local high schools try and make it convenient and affordable for their students by offering All-Sports Passes at a reduced price so students can attend any of the sports’ home dates with one school season-long pass.

James Clemens actually began the process a year ago offering a $65 pass to its student body that number 1,407 and ranked No. 11 among the schools in Alabama. Bob Jones, with 1,355 students (No. 16), joined the pass parade at $65 a pop. Sparkman, located in Harvest, is the fourth largest school in Alabama with 1,796 students and offers a similar pass for $75. The Senators also offer an adult pass for $100.

“If a student purchased tickets to all of the events they would spend around $255 total, so the $75 All-Sports Pass is certainly a great deal,” said Jason Watts, athletic director at Sparkman High.

Madison Academy, which is a private school, is in Class 4A officially with 315 students, but does not currently offer any type of All-Sports Pass.

The athletic programs at each school rely heavily on tickets sales throughout the school year to help offset the costs of hosting athletic teams. Some of the sports, such as football, require large amounts of money to function for the students, school and community. The programs are very important to the makeup of each school.

If each student purchased an All-Sports Pass, the amounts of money raised by each school is staggering and could certainly benefit each program within the athletic program. If each student at Sparkman bought a pass the school would rake in $134-thousand. James Clemens could make $91-thousand while Bob Jones could muster $88-thousand on pass sales alone.

Each school has its All-Sports Pass available at each school and students are urged to participate, help the athletic program and enjoy supporting the schools’ teams, which represent the entire student body when their activities actually take place.  The effort of the All-Sports Pass is best known as “school spirit.”