TYLER, TEXAS (KYTX) -- The "Lake Tyler" Rivalry not only energizes fans, it gives schools something to smile about.
Tyler ISD gets up to $7,000 from ticket sales and 100 percent of concession stand proceeds. Chapel Hill and Whitehouse also get a cut of the proceeds, but the big payoff for them is the seats.
"Rose stadium is a great place to play a football game. It facilitates and holds a lot of people, more than our stadium can hold and more than Chapel Hill's stadium can hold," Richard Peacock, Assistant Superintendent at Whitehouse ISD, said.
The Bulldog stadium holds 2500 people, not nearly enough for the showdown. "The last two years it's been a huge turnout by both schools," Coach Thomas Sitton, Athletic Director of Chapel Hill ISD, said.
In the past, the rivalry has boasted some 6,000 fans. Multiply that by $3 or $5 a ticket, and it's a lot of money up for grabs.
"There's a stadium rental fee, plus 15% of the gate ticket proceeds go to Tyler ISD. They pay the workers, and then the net proceeds leftover are split between the two schools," Peacock said.
For Whitehouse ISD, that's been $5,000 to $8,000 in the past, which goes into a general revenue fund.
Tyler ISD gets the brunt of the proceeds, which goes into the athletics department fund and pays for things like new turf and a new scoreboard.
For the teams playing, a benefit is the atmosphere. "It's a little bit of a playoff atmosphere early in the season, you know playing at a neutral site," Sitton said.
Money raised at the concession stand is split between John Tyler and Robert E. Lee booster clubs evenly. Booster clubs are in charge of working the concessions at Rose Stadium.
