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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 1999
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour
517.332.5046 or www.mhsaa.com

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Aug. 19 - Results of high school sporting events will be as close as a mouse click for Internet users beginning Friday (August 27), as the Amateur Sports Network begins to provide score services to the public and media outlets.

The Amateur Sports Network is a Troy-based corporation which high schools, at no financial obligation, may participate by contributing information to the site and taking part in a variety of fund-raising programs. ASN is a corporate partner of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, providing the association with web site hosting and e-mail services.

For the fall sports season, ASN will focus on providing scores in girls basketball, football and boys soccer. The ASN database is already loaded with the football schedules of all MHSAA member schools, and the site will be undated each week with scores as they are called in by schools participating in the program. Schools wishing to have their girls basketball and boys soccer scores on the site need only input their schedules so they can update the information as games take place.

The ASN database can be updated by participating schools via the Internet or by telephone. The telephone update features allows a participating school to input its scores using any touch-tone phone, speeding up the reporting process.

Eventually, the ASN database will expand to provide current information about all school sports teams, including rosters, schedules and results. The program also promotes student involvement through the creation of Student Sports Information Directors, who will be responsible for providing ASN with schedules, statistics and scores on all athletic teams at their schools. Results sent to ASN by SSID's will be posted to the Internet within minutes, and conference standings would be instantaneously updated.

ASN will become the primary means of providing scores for its media partners, including The Detroit News, WJR's Friday Night Football Scoreboard, and the Great Lakes Prep Roundup radio program, which can be heard on over 20 stations around the state.

In addition, scores can also be obtained from ASN on a subscription basis via telephone or pager. The cost for the subscription service is $35 annually, and telephone users will be charged an additional 30 cents per minute while retrieving scores. Coaches may participate at a discounted annual fee of $25.

"The success of ASN hinges on schools participating in the program," said Thom Lengyel, director of the Amateur Sports Network. "ASN can reduce the need for schools to make a laundry list of phone calls after a game by just submitting their results to our database, which will be available to all media outlets. We've been encouraged by the response of school athletic administrators as we've recruited their involvement this summer, and also believe that once people see scores available on-line shortly after the completion of games, that participation will increase."

The web site address for scores is www.asn.net. As of August 19, approximately 125 schools had committed to take part in the program. More schools are expected to join in the future.

Eventually, ASN will also be a resource for health and safety information related to high school sports. Other future features will include, a password-protected environment for schools to obtain officials information.

The fundraising programs available through ASN will include Internet connection services, sponsor advertising, sporting goods catalog sales and on-line auctions. Participating member schools will receive a portion of the proceeds through these programs, and the MHSAA will also direct a portion of the revenues towards sportsmanship or other educational campaigns.

The MHSAA will also serve as the standards board for ASN, directing the tone and the content of the web site in a manner that is consistent with the mission of educational athletics.

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 conducted in 12 sports for girls and 12 sports for boys which attract approximately 1.3 million spectators each year.

MEDIA ADVISORY - For more information about the Amateur Sports Network, contact Thom Lengyel at 810.217.2075 or Paul Stolz at 248.740.7654, Ext. 233.