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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 21, 2001
Contact: John Johnson or Randy Allen-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Aug. 15 - For the second straight year, attendance at Michigan High School Athletic Association tournaments topped the 1.6 million mark, with new records set in overall spectatorship in the Competitive Cheer, Ice Hockey, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Track and Field, and Girls Volleyball series.

The overall attendance figure of 1,629,398 was the second highest ever to the 1999-00 total of 1,668,905 fans. The boys attendance mark of 1,281,224 ranked second all-time, and the girls figure of 348,174 was fourth. The overall growth indicated continued interest in all MHSAA tournaments. The overall attendance is up 15 percent over the past decade, and in that time span, attendance at girls finals has rocketed up 37 percent.

The girls competitive cheer tournament series drew 9,522, topping the old record of 9,162 the previous year; and the Finals attendance for that tournament of 3,646 exceeded the previous year's mark of 3,273 fans.

Girls volleyball's series total of 48,481 passed the 1996-97 record of 48,207 in that tournament. A record was also set at the District level of play with the 24,998 fans passing the 1999-00 mark of 24,872.

In soccer, the boys tournament set new marks at the District (15,389) and Regional (16,106) levels of action, en route to a new series high of 41,947, topping the 1998-99 overall total of 41,771. The girls tournament has 26,771 overall spectators and 10,503 at the District level of play, breaking records of 27,416 and 10,121 respectively, set the year before.

Ice hockey, in its three-division format, has set new attendance marks for two years running. This past year's tournament set marks at the Regional (39,642), Quarterfinal (6,922) and overall (54,966). The old overall record was 50,783 a year ago.

Track and field set records for the second straight year for Regionals (19,259), Finals (15,978) and the tournament series (35,237). Cross country had a new Finals record in 2000-01 of 9,075.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,300 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.
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