Leading off today: Money is on the agenda when the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee convenes in Saratoga Springs on Wednesday for its quarterly meeting.
There are other substantial topics to be tackled, including the vote to approve the Three-Region Concept for the regional playoff rotations, and an update from the ad hoc committee studying potential alternatives to non-public and charter schools competing in the postseason. But rising costs at a time when revenue from New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships is having trouble keeping pace has made addressing finances a priority.
Overall, the agenda is heavy on discussion items and light on big issues requiring votes. But the discussions will help set the table for future votes.
Here's a rundown of what to look for on Wednesday:
Ticket prices could be increasing soon
Attendance at the NYSPHSAA football and basketball tournaments can be predictable yet unpredictable all at once. On average, teams coming from other sections bring the same number of fans with them each year. The wildcard, however, is how many teams from nearby schools qualify and how broad their appeal is. To a lesser degree, big names (we're thinking of you, JG3) or great matchups also matter.
The most recent NYSPHSAA boys basketball tournament caught a bit of a break when Binghamton High not only qualified but played on consecutive days, attracting big crowds to Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. Unfortunately, Moravia High, an hour away from Binghamton, was the only other Section 4 team to qualify, and the Blue Devils were one-and-done.
It contributed to a big dropoff from the 2023 tournament in Glens Falls, where Section 2 teams played eight games (including two for the hometown team) in three days at Cool Insuring Arena. The result: Net income from one of the NYSPHSAA's most important money-makers dropped 21.3% to $132,709 despite expenses also dropping 20.5%. The girls basketball tournament in Troy sailed into even worse head winds with a drop in net income of 63.2%.
Attendance for the other winter championships was up 5%, according to the NYSPHSAA. But that couldn't offset the effect of basketball's combined 27.8% plunge. Throw in a football tournament that barely broke even and three wrestling championships that finished $76,747 in the red, and the NYSPHSAA is rightfully concerned about how finances are trending. Even improved year-over-year attendance is no guarantee of profitability: The most recent gameday cheerleading, bowling, boys swimming, gymnastics, and girls swimming competitions lost money despite larger turnouts.
The expense side of the ledger offers no relief. If the Houston Astrodome was the Eighth Modern Wonder of the World, then the cost to wrestle at MVP Arena in Albany and play football at JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse possibly check in at Nos. 9 and 10. On top of all that, the NYSPHSAA staff concedes its stipends for game-day staff like scoreboard operators haven't been keeping pace with reality and should probably be adjusted.
The NYSPHSAA has started a five-year schedule of annual dues increases for schools, but upping the flat fee of $1,050 by $50 per year (schools also pay $1 per each student over 300) hardly makes a dent. That's why discussions about raising ticket prices for most championships are in progress. Nothing will be made official this week, but football and wrestling could go from $10.50 to $14. Other sports could increase from the current $10.50 to $12.
With the start of the new fiscal year on the horizon, a vote is expected in July.
Two big February meeting topics are back
The two discussion items that dominated the agenda at
February's meeting of the Executive Committee are still discussion items, albeit at different stages.
As I blogged the other day, the ad hoc committee inspired by the latest flare-up of the question of whether non-public and charter schools belong in the postseason met again recently. The members appear to have coalesced around keeping those schools in the state playoffs but adding more power to the Oversight Committee when it comes to assigning them to classifications.
That's going to require more discussion at the local level, but a vote at this summer's Central Committee meeting seems plausible.
Meanwhile, the minutes from the April 8 meeting of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee indicate that granting voting power on the Executive Committee and Central Committee for representatives from the state's Big Five school districts may be a tough sell.
Chief among the concerns appears to be the precedent that such a move would set for other constituencies like private or rural schools. An offer of ex-officio status on all standing and sport committees, comparable to what the National Federation does, might be the best the Big Five could hope to land.
Voting items
The key vote of the day -- and it is expected to sail through -- will be on the adoption of the Three-Region Concept. Though originally projected to go into effect for he 2026-27 school year, the Executive Committee fast-tracked implementation at its most recent meeting. Wednesday's affirmative vote means it will be used beginning next fall.
The goal is to give the 11 sections consistent geographic opponents and reduce travel for regionals leading up to state championships while reducing the amount of time the respective sport committees spend crafting matchup rotations.
Other votes of interest:
• The Executive Committee will vote on the adoption of definitions for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for inclusion in the NYSPHSAA Handbook.
• Members will approve Valley Gymnastics in Utica as the site of the 2026 state meet (in place of Whitesboro High School) and a three-year contract for Cold Spring Harbor to host beginning in 2027.
• Though the practice is already largely in place, the Executive Committee will be asked to approve a three-nights rest rule for rounds of state playoffs beginning with the conclusion of sectionals and leading up to final fours. The Championship Advisory Committee already signed off on the proposal in January.
• In another scheduling move, the organization has proposed moving the start of most fall season sports to two weeks before Labor Day rather than pegging it to the NFHS calendar. The related proposal to move football's start date up to Week 7 on the NFHS calendar will require approval from the New York State Education Department.
Similarly, spring sports will start on the second Monday in March if the Executive Committee approves in a separate vote.
• Staying on the scheduling theme, the Executive Committee will decide whether to keep the eight-man football final on the same weekend as the other football championship games or place it a week earlier on the schedule.
This may be just a one-time issue or no issue at all; barring a radical change in circumstances, eight-man won't meet the minimum of four sections with four or more teams in the upcoming season.
• Citing inconsistency among the sections, the NYSPHSAA cheerleading committee is recommending that the NYSPHSAA no longer recognizes competitive cheerleading in the fall, making that season the exclusive domain of gameday cheerleading.
• If the baseball committee's request is approved, teams will be able to start scrimmaging after the sixth day of practice, albeit with low pitch counts.
• A number of committees for various sports have come out against the resulting cuts, but plaques for losing teams in regionals are on the chopping block, and individual awards in some sports will be dialed back in the name of across-the-board consistency and a small cost savings if the Executive Committee approves.
Discussion items
None of these items will be voted on, but all have made it to the final level of consideration. Many will end up on the agenda for the Central Committee meeting this summer in Schenectady.
• The wrestling committee wants to move to 14 weight classes, which is the maximum under NFHS rules and the preference in 41 other states. New York has been using 12 NFHS weight classes plus the 101-pound division.
• The boys and girls tennis committees instituted "stacking" rules for the team tournaments in 2021 and have an amended proposal to clarify structure and use of challenge matches in determining lineups.
For the uninitiated, stacking is the sport's version of tanking. By moving the team's fourth-best player to No. 1 singles, for instance, a coach pushes his better players down a notch in the lineup to improve odds of winning the other three matches. Not surprisingly, that's frowned upon.
• The single-day state indoor track meet has outgrown the facilities, so the sport committee is proposing a two-day format. The move would do away with Friday practice and create some additional expense but make the atmosphere less chaotic for athletes and spectators.
Along those lines, the indoor and outdoor track committees want to limit relay teams to two alternates instead of the current four, which the NFHS allows but is excessive by any realistic measure. Since many of those third and fourth alternates won't be competing in individual events, there will be fewer athletes.
• Bowling wants to add an at-large team in Division I events in the championship tournament because the fields have an odd number of teams. They would replace pacer teams used to keep all competitors on the same rhythm.
• The boys and girls volleyball committees each have proposals for the Executive Committee's consideration. Among them, the girls want to do away with 15-point tiebreakers in the state semifinals if the result has no bearings on advancement.
• The boys hockey committee has proposed an optional running clock for games with an eight-goal margin in the third period. One potential advantage is expected to be less chippy play in the closing minutes of one-sided games.
File this away for future reference
Good behavior is always a top-of-mind topic, and isolated issues are typically handled school-to-school. However, the minutes from the most recent NYSPHSAA Sportsmanship Committee meeting suggest that the sport of basketball has sprung some leaks.
Specifically, Section 6 took note of some lopsided scores locally, and there have also been some incidents across the state that have flared up during postgame handshake lines.
Section 8's mechanism for disciplining coaches of teams winning by lopsided scores under certain circumstances was raised at the meeting, but there's no indication the rest of the state is ready to go in that direction.
