Every Friday night, when the lights come on, the stands are full with students and fans cheering on the home team with enthusiasm.

Throughout the season, the excitement continues and school support seems substantially greater than that of the other fall sports.

“Football lends itself as more of a spectator sport than some of the other sports.” said Mike Sabins, the ASB Leadership teacher and former football coach.

During the season, students experience Homecoming Week and some think that it’s just based on football.

Sabins stated that Homecoming Week only really emphasized the football game on Friday at the rally and that it featured other events such as the homecoming court and spirit days.

Sabins also expressed that the ASB Leadership class emphasizes Spirit Week in the winter and the Placer Palooza in early May as much as they do for Homecoming Week.

These events happen every year and some would think that the other athletes would be disappointed that they don’t get as much attention.

Some athletes just think that there’s more effort that’s put into football, therefore creating more emphasis.

“I think that football gets more attention because it’s a more popular sport,” says Owen Hurley, a runner for the cross country team.

Other athletes had different theories about football’s superiority.

“They make more of an effort to show football off than volleyball.” stated Cheyenne Matyac, a volleyball player at Placer High.

With more support, comes more funding, better business, and larger turnouts in the stands, but there is a misunderstanding that the school gives most of the money for athletics to football.

“The money football gets is raised,” argued Sabins. “There’s a misconception that our school throws all the money at football. In reality, the football team and football boosters raise the money that they spend on the team.”

Not only was there a misunderstanding about the funding, but among the students, there seem to be mixed emotions about football’s popularity.

“It doesn’t really bother me that football has more support because running is more a specialty sport.” said Hurley.

Other athletes had different feelings about football being favored.

“Yes it does bother me, because volleyball is just as interesting and we work just as hard.” claims Matyac.

Some athletes also had different ideas about the reason that football has so much support from the student body.

“Running is more of a specialty sport,” said Hurley. “And football is something you can hear from home.”

The emphasis on football has become a misconception, but it still reigns as the number one high school sport.