Leading off today: The Executive Committee of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association voted Thursday to revise the championship bidding process, setting in motion a chain of events that will likely see Glens Falls and Binghamton battle again for a three-year contract to host the state basketball tournament.
Glens Falls was recommended on Sept. 25 to receive the contract for the 2017-19 tournaments, but questions regarding the process resulted in NYSPHSAA executives suggesting changes to the process as well as a do-over. The Executive Committee adopted the changes and voted to start the bidding process from scratch this fall with an expectation to finish up by the end of the year and have the decision OK'd by the Executive Committee in January.
Glens Falls and Binghamton are expected to compete again for the right to host. Albany had also submitted a bid by the Aug. 28 deadline but was not a factor in the voting due to high overhead costs and an inability to guarantee the 2019 dates until the Times Union Center learns whether it will host NCAA Tournament action that year.
The new process includes keeping bids sealed until the boys basketball committee meets to examine the details and doing away with in-person bid presentations. The basketball committee will make its recommendations first, followed by NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas and his staff.
"The current process provided for bid presentations, which enhanced the potential for adjustments within the bids," Zayas told The Daily Gazette. "The revised process will no longer have bid presentations. The bids will be sealed and reviewed by the committee and staff."
The NYSPHSAA Championship Advisory Committee will continue to consider the bids before the matter goes to the Executive Committee.
"We'll do our best to try and retain this. We certainly do not want to lose this," Doug Kenyon, director of the tournament in Glens Falls, told The Times Union.
The Glens Falls Civic Center has hosted the NYSPHSAA's most lucrative championship event since 1981.
Hudson Valley Community College, which faced no competing bids, was awarded the 2017-19 girls basketball tournaments.
More from the meeting: In the course of previewing the meeting this week, several newspapers indicated that the proposal to expand the state football tournament to six classes might be sent back for further consideration. And that's precisely what happened, as the Executive Committee opted to reconvene its long-dormant Championship Philosophy Committee (CPC) to take a closer look.
The CPC's work almost certainly has to be completed by the next Executive Committee meeting on Jan. 29 in order for a sixth class to get an OK for 2016.
As an aside, I'm hearing concerns that the proposed Class AAA is being viewed by some as an immediate destination for many private schools with little regard for doing what's right. (My words there are chosen carefully.) If so, any argument in support of six classes on the basis of safety -- i.e., keeping relatively small schools from having to face those with BEDS three and four times higher -- goes out the window.
In a few other noteworthy matters:
• The proposal to increase the number of regular-season hockey games from 20 to 22 was shot down.
• Ocean Breeze Athlete Complex in Staten Island was approved as host of the 2017-19 state indoor track and field meets, and Bethpage State Park (Yellow Course) was awarded girls golf for 2016-18.
• The boys and girls lacrosse championships have been pushed back a week on the calendar beginning next spring. Ditto for the girls golf championships.
