You're the parent of a son playing on a high school football team that's going deep into the playoffs this fall. You have a daughter on the girls' soccer team and she has dreams of touching the championship ball, too.

A single ticket costs $7. That's not much. A drop in the gas tank if you drive an SUV or pickup. Half the price of admission to a movie in an IMAX theatre. A pound of good ham at the deli.

Start multiplying that $7 by two. You and your spouse are going to the game. Your team wins and there's another $14 for the Western Maine semifinal game. Your team wins again.

Two student-athletes on two teams might take $100 out of your wallet over three or four weeks, and you haven't bought your first bag of popcorn. You paid hundreds of dollars for the summer camps, hundreds more on shoes and other equipment.

You can put a price on victory, and in hard times it's starting to hurt. Can't the Maine Principals Association lower ticket prices? Can't the MPA give free passes to the parents who have spent so much out of pocket?

No, says Dick Durost, the MPA's executive director. The MPA can't. The tournaments are running a projected deficit of more than $200,000 for the second straight year.

Yes, says Shippen Bright of Nobleboro, who lists fundraising among his many credentials. The MPA can.

Bright has degrees from Bates, Harvard, and Southern New Hampshire University and was a deputy commissioner for the Maine Department of Conservation. His children are student-athletes. These days, he's between jobs and there's less money in his pocket.

"I've heard anecdotes of parents who will jump a fence to support their child," said Bright in a phone conversation. "They can't keep paying these fees. Most won't speak up out of a sense of shame."

You can understand. Pride in providing for family still exists.

This fall, Bright approached Durost several times. He learned of the deficits. Bright, who says he worked in the Har-vard development office, offered his services. He believes he can find revenue streams or philanthropists the MPA didn't know existed. Yes, you can assume Bright would do this for a fee.

Durost has been responsible for marketing the tournaments. It's one of the many hats he wears, and that's the point. He is an educator and an administrator first. Most MPA members are. So why not bring Bright or someone with his credentials inside the MPA tent? Outsourcing doesn't have to be a dirty term.

"We're careful of not selling our soul," said Durost. It's happened elsewhere. Some think the NCAA sold its soul years ago.

"The tournament experience for the student-athlete comes first," said Durost. He's right. But how's that experience if Mom and Dad can't pay the fees, or taxes, as Bright also calls them?

Rich Drummond, Portland High's athletic director, knows of examples in his school. Money is so tight, people are making tough choices. Turn to the boosters? With shrinking budgets, booster groups are asked to spend for necessities in addition to or at the expense of frills, such as new team warm-ups. They can't budget for the expense of buying tickets for parents.

And yet, says Drummond, "I would personally do everything I could to help that family out, and I'm sure my boosters would as well." Durost says he'd believe every school community would do the same. It's what Mainers do.

It's also ironic. As Bright says, there are families who won't ask for help. The MPA won't either. At least not from outsiders.

Durost says the money spent to hire a fundraiser would be better used to trim the deficit. Why pay for something they've done in house forever?

Durost and the MPA have not experienced hard times like the past two years. Fresh ideas and fresh money should be welcomed. If Bright or any other paid fundraiser finds a hidden benefactor, that's money the MPA didn't have before.

Certainly, the MPA can refuse...