Profit Motive Behind Switch of Banning-Dorsey Game

When Banning High School forfeited a crucial football game rather than play at Dorsey High last year, it sparked a controversy as intense as the rivalry between the two powerhouse teams.

Some Banning parents and students had said a shooting at an earlier Dorsey game made Dorsey’s home field--Jackie Robinson Stadium in the Crenshaw District--a dangerous place. Dorsey students were insulted, saying Banning supporters had overrated the danger.

This year, the controversy will not be repeated. School officials have agreed to play the Nov. 14 Banning-Dorsey game at El Camino College near Torrance.

But the move, school officials say, is primarily to make money on the game. The rivalry between two of Los Angeles’ best high school football teams has been recognized as intense enough to be financially lucrative.

When Banning and Dorsey finally met for the 4-A football championship last year at El Camino College, it was a thriller played before a crowd of 12,000. Dorsey won, 33-30.

Home games and away games were forgotten this year as school officials considered potential revenue: Jackie Robinson Stadium seats about 3,250 people; Gardena stadium, where Banning plays, seats about 4,000. El Camino’s stadium has room for 12,000 people, which adds up to a lot more money for the teams to take home.

“We could be talking about as much as $30,000 difference--making a lot of assumptions; assuming we sell out the whole stadium and that at least half the tickets are general admission,” said Richard Browning, administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District senior high school division.

“We’ve got a couple of really big moneymakers out there right now that we run each year such as Garfield-Roosevelt, which last year was attended by 20,000 people. That’s a bundle of money,” Browning said.

“So we’re hoping to make this another big event in Southern California football.”

Banning and Dorsey have agreed to give up their home game locations for at least two years. If attendance at El Camino lives up to expectations, the agreement may be stretched to four years, Browning said.

Speculation about whether Banning would have played at Jackie Robinson Stadium or forfeited again, school officials say, is irrelevant.

Intense local interest in the game and the media attention the teams have received make playing in a larger venue the only reasonable solution, Dorsey Principal Jerelene Wells said. Principal Augustine Herrera of Banning High in Wilmington declined to comment.

After Banning forfeited the Dorsey game last year, Banning was warned that it would have to play Dorsey this year at Jackie Robinson, a demand no longer in force.

“What would it prove to send them there? Why toss that money away just to be hardheaded about something we’ve gotten past,” LAUSD Athletic Director Hal Harkness said.

“When those two teams finally met in the 4-A championship, it was probably as good a game as I’ve ever seen in 30 years of high school football,” Harkness said. “It brought out the best in what those youngsters have to offer.”

Los Angeles school board member Warren Furutani said moving the game will allow students, parents, fans and the teams to focus solely on football.

“The issue for us it to get the game played, and what we’re doing here is really looking at what’s best for both schools,” Furutani said.