Eight years after the Maricopa County Community College District eliminated football at four of its campuses, the sport has become the defining issue in this November's race for three open seats on the district's governing board. A slate called Change4Maricopa — made up of candidates Ryan Caracciolo, John Crow and Susan Winder — is campaigning on reinstating football, while opponents warn the push is less about student-athletes and more about politics.
As reported by Axios, football is officially on the ballot as a campaign issue in the race to fill three of the seven seats on the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) governing board, which oversees 10 community colleges across the county. Glendale Community College, Mesa Community College, Scottsdale Community College and Phoenix College all eliminated their football programs in 2018, a decision that ended junior college football not just in Maricopa County but, eventually, statewide.
How Arizona Lost Junior College Football Entirely
The 2018 cuts set off a chain reaction. Within months, Arizona Western College and Eastern Arizona College also eliminated their football programs, citing the inability to schedule local games and cover rising travel costs once MCCCD and Pima Community College had already abandoned theirs, according to KJZZ. The fallout also dissolved the Western States Football League, a conference that had fielded eight teams across Arizona and Utah, leaving Utah's Snow College as the only team left standing. Phoenix College's program had dated back to the 1920s, meaning junior college football had operated in Maricopa County for nearly a century before it disappeared, per Cronkite News.
The roots of the decision trace back to 2015, when the Arizona Legislature eliminated state funding for Maricopa County community colleges, according to the Axios report. That earlier funding cut, which KJZZ reported at the time stripped MCCCD of roughly $8 million in annual state support, forced district leaders to scrutinize expensive programs. A 2017 internal task force report titled “Maricopa Athletics, Maricopa Priorities” found that football had the highest dropout rates and student loan default rates among the district's sports, according to Northeast Valley News, and the task force ultimately recommended scrapping football because of its high costs relative to other sports and its low student success rates, per Axios. District officials estimated at the time that maintaining football facilities, stadiums, insurance and operations across the district would have cost more than $20 million, according to a 2018 report.
The Financial Plan Behind the Comeback Push
Axios reports that football accounted for about 20% of MCCCD's athletics budget but more than 50% of athletics-related insurance costs, according to figures attributed to Lindsey Wilson. Change4Maricopa's financial plan calls for a $2-per-credit-hour student life and athletics fee beginning in 2027, which the plan estimates would cost a full-time student about $60 a year, with the fee indexed to inflation afterward. Under the plan, up to 60% of that revenue would go toward football.
Candidate John Crow told Axios the fee is “a proof of concept, not the plan,” explaining that the financial model is meant to stress-test a 25-year funding approach and that the fee itself could serve as what he called a modest funding source. He said the broader plan includes sponsorships, naming rights, donations, budget efficiencies and the restoration of state funding, adding that there are multiple funding levers and not one solution, and that new taxes or fees should only be used as a last resort. Crow said the goal is to create opportunities for young people and has called football a nonpartisan issue, dismissing criticism of the slate's motives as a baseless political claim.
Trojan Horse Allegations Divide the Race
Not everyone is convinced the football push is as straightforward as it sounds. Candidate Bill Sandweg, who is running against Susan Winder, alleged that Change4Maricopa is using football as a Trojan horse to bring far-right extremism to the MCCCD board, according to Axios. Candidate Judy Schwiebert, who is running against Crow and previously served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2021 through January 2025 on the Education, Appropriations and Joint Legislative Budget committees per Ballotpedia, made the same allegation.
Sandweg told Axios that bringing back football is a nice idea but a bunch of BS, and said he supports using additional funding to expand other high-demand programs instead. Schwiebert, for her part, said football would be great to have back but questioned where the money would come from.
Even Reinstatement Wouldn't Be the Board's Call Alone
Former MCCCD board member Linda Thor added a procedural wrinkle to the debate, telling Axios that new football programs could only be funded by raising taxes or tuition. Thor said the current board was not involved in the 2018 decision to eliminate football, and she said the board likely would not be the body that ultimately decides whether to reinstate it.
That dynamic matters because of how MCCCD pays its bills today. According to a January 2025 open statement from the district's leadership, roughly 75% of MCCCD's operating budget depends directly on local property taxes, a dependence the district highlighted while addressing a tax distribution dispute with Maricopa County. Jack Hastings, a member of the Surprise City Council, has voiced support for bringing back football, reflecting interest in the issue beyond the candidates themselves.
Even if Change4Maricopa sweeps all three open seats in November, winning a majority on policy questions requires at least four votes on the seven-member governing board, which holds statutory authority over the district's policies, budgets and operational mandates. That means the football question — however it's decided — will likely require buy-in from board members well beyond this fall's winning candidates.
