[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

Finally, I hate to break it to you but I can say I know of several people that were paid to play in high school as far back as the early 2000’s.

In honor of your post do I hand-type this summary in The Week of an article that appeared on the Bloomberg website. I would link to it, but it's behind a pay wall. Here it is:

Corporate suites come to HS Football

by Adam Minter, Bloomberg (as summarized in The Week, also pay-walled; this article appeared in the paper magazine)

As money transforms college football, the traditions and culture of high school football have become "collateral damage," said Adam Minter. Buford High School's new $62 million Philip Beard Stadium "features 15 corporate suites, 10,000 seats, and a 3,600-square-foot, state of the art scoreboard." Buford, Ga., 40 miles northeast of Atlanta, is not alone, and its stadium isn't even the most expensive. Texas has at least 10 high school stadiums that cost $50 million or more. These sports monuments are the ripple effect of changes at the college level, where athletes now have the right to be paid and coaches scout other college teams for transfers.

Their high school recruiting narrows to the most elite programs, hence the arms race in gold-plated facilities, which attract top athletes and impress scouts. Last year, as many as 15,000 Texas students were estimated to move between sports-centric schools. "As teams focus on recruiting top-tier transfers, walk-ons and other players seeking a traditional high school football experience are pushed aside." Building bigger stadiums, selling merch, and getting sponsors is a "proven business model." The price is paid by taxpayers funding the stadiums — and by athletes missing out on programs that see them as "people, not just players."

Unbelievable, isn't it? But all part of the new reality in which we now live.