According to Athletic Director Shaun Strople, it takes upward of $80,000 to run athletic programs at Buena. While funding in sports can be complicated and entangled with protocols, it is important to explain the puzzle pieces of budgeting to reveal a coherent picture.  

Fees:

Contrary to popular belief, the district does not give a base amount of money to our athletic department. Instead, sports that have gate fees, those that charge an entrance fee to attend an event or game, gather funds through admissions from spectators. These funds are immediately recycled into the athletic department, which is responsible for funneling the funds back into each program. 

Athletic Director Shaun Strople has a system to make sure each sport gets the funding they need to run their program.  Programs such as football, volleyball, and basketball raise money to be split between the entire athletic department, rather than having individual funds for each sport. 

This is because each sport has different needs. For example, football needs more officials and equipment than soccer due to the number of athletes in the sport. For example, if soccer were to use 40 soccer balls for each level team they have, the athletic department would give them money for the amount of balls needed for a playoff game. This is called game management.

Individual fundraising 

Each sport is responsible for their own additional funding and their own needs. If they wanted to enter an extra tournament that is not required by the league, they would need to raise additional money separate from what they received. However, each sport has access to fundraising and sponsorships. 

There are several different ways for programs to go about fundraising. For instance, dine-out nights. Dine-out nights are when sports programs collaborate with restaurants to promote their business on a specific night. Then, that program receives a certain percentage from the profits.