Touchdown or Blocked Punt?

GUEST BLOG BY JOELLE SOKOLIC

It’s fall. Football season is here. But if you want to watch a collegiate game in Atlantic County, you’re out of luck. Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) doesn’t have a school team to root for.

The closest community college to ACCC with a football program is Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY. That football team goes back to 1968 and is one of the largest athletic programs in the Northeast, said Michael Pelliccia, director of athletics at Nassau Community College.

“Colleges today use athletics to increase their enrollments without additional costs to the college per se,” Pellicia said “Most colleges support their programs through a faculty student association, and student fees.”

Should ACCC have a football program? According to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), not one community college in New Jersey has a football program. Only four schools in neighboring states have one, including Garden City. The others are in Scranton, PA, Brooklyn, NY, and New York City.

Would a football program benefit ACCC? Cameron Hunter, a marketing major, is all for it. “It would bring more students to the college and help a lot of troubled athletes become professionals.”

Although a football program may be popular among students, funding is a concern. “Money is one issue why we do not have football,” said Michael Rennick, athletics director at ACCC, “very few 2-years colleges in the East have football as most of the high school players go to 4-years colleges.” Running a college football program can run up to $1 million per year, whereas other athletic teams cost between $25,000 and $50,000.

“Football is a very expensive sport to maintain. To start a program from ‘scratch’ is prohibitive.”

North Iowa Area Community College cut its football program last year because of money. “Starting a football team is not easy and it also is not easy to maintain one,” Mark Krug, assistant executive director at NJCAA said. “The equipment, facilities travel, and the fact that you need around 60 to 100 players to adequately compete the price tag quickly goes north.”

According to NJCAA, in order to have a football program, a college that is already a member of the association has to fill out the proper paperwork and pay a $10 sports fee. But it isn’t as simple as that, Krug said.