All-Star Games Flicker, Often Burn Out : Prep football: Costs, lack of attendance have caused cancellation of several, and others have become wary of the future.

Putting on a high school all-star football game is a risky business venture these days. Just ask any of the organizations whose events have fallen by the wayside.

Rising insurance costs prompted the Daily News of Los Angeles to give up its longtime affiliation with an all-star game for top players in the San Fernando Valley this summer. Monetary considerations also led to cancellation of the Los Angeles Senior Bowl last year for the top players in the inner-city.

Many other such football games throughout the state have met similar fates. Increasing costs and dwindling interest--perhaps the result of all-star overexposure--are key reasons for the downfall.

Those that remain rely on tight budget management and inventive public relations to make things work.

At the Riverside County All-Star game on July 8, for example, promoters had a sky diver parachute into the stadium at Valley View High in Moreno Valley to deliver the game ball. Afterward, there was a fireworks show. The extra effort resulted in a capacity crowd of 5,000.

“We’ve been putting this game on for 10 years, and you learn some tricks every time you do it,” said Jim Winn, who represents the S.P.O.R.T. Clinic Foundation that sponsors the event. “Costs are always a consideration, so we get as many things as we can donated, from the tickets to the fireworks to the program.”

The San Gabriel Valley All-Star game operates on a budget of $20,000, which leaves just enough profit for the sponsoring group to hold an annual banquet for the area’s top scholar-athletes. In 16 years, the event has averaged about 2,500 fans.

Jim Brownfield, a former football coach at Pasadena Muir High and the chairman of the game, said it is important to keep the format simple and not try to take on too much.

“You have to be realistic about your limitations,” he said. “You can’t kid yourself about how many people you will get. It’s easy to wish for 10,000, but that kind of thinking gets organizers in trouble every time.”

Large crowds used to be routine for the Shrine All-Star game, which, until this year, has featured the state’s top players in a North-South format since 1952. In the early years, the game often drew more than 80,000 to the Coliseum or Rose Bowl. Fewer than 5,000 attended last year at Citrus College in Glendora.

Since the Shrine game--like most all-star contests--is run by a nonprofit, charitable group, the existence is endangered when there is little or no profit.

Hoping to reverse that trend, the Shriners are pulling out all the stops with a game that features all-stars from California against the best players from Texas on Saturday night at Cal State Fullerton. Although this concept had been discussed for years, it was not approved until last September, when it became clear to organizers that something had to be done.

The gamble is not without risks. The game’s budget increased from $180,000 to $250,000, largely because of higher transportation costs. With no guarantees of increased interest, this could be the final chapter for the historic contest.

“We want to continue with this game because of the money it raises [for the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in L.A.] and because of the public relations it provides for our group,” said Nate Grosher, managing director of the game. “We want to keep trying things until we find something that works. These are different times in L.A., and we have to be able to adapt as well.”

All-star games are usually run by volunteers who work on the project year-round. Events today must have ample security, extensive insurance, medical clearance for all participants and cooperative players and coaches.

“Many players today don’t want to practice too hard in the summer, so it can be a challenge just getting them to show up every day,” said Jerry Weiner, who ran the L.A. Senior Bowl for 17 years. “And a lot of insurance companies won’t even write a policy for a game that features a contact sport.”

Weiner said many facilities have such extensive requirements for security that it makes it financially impossible to hold the games.

The Daily News continues sponsoring baseball and softball all-star games in the San Fernando Valley but dropped football because of rising insurance and security costs.

Sponsors would not have trouble meeting the increased costs if attendance were not so low. Small crowds showed up for games in Ventura County and in the South Bay last month. Shrine game officials will consider their new format a success if they draw 10,000, a number that would have been scoffed at 10 or 15 years ago.

“I think a saturation of these games in recent years has ended up hurting everyone because they’re all fighting for the same players and fans,” said Mark Tennis, who covers high school sports for Student Sports magazine. “It can also hurt their media coverage, which is a key for publicity.”

Getting the top players for all-star games is also a growing challenge. Many scholarship athletes do not want to risk injury before reporting to their new schools. Some college coaches also frown on such events.

Grosher of the Shrine game acknowledges he has had to do a lot of negotiating to get local colleges’ cooperation.

But the bottom line is generating enough interest to make sure such games are financially feasible. Saturday’s Shrine game features athletes from two states that produced 1,000 Division I-A scholarship players last year and eight of the last 17 Heisman Trophy winners. If fans cannot get excited about that level of talent, Grosher contends, all-star games may have seen their day in Southern California.

“I’ve come across every type of problem imaginable,” he said. “It isn’t easy to keep coming up with answers.”