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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --October 14, 1999
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046

EEAST LANSING, Mich. - Oct. 6 - The announcement of the 256 schools qualifying for the expanded Michigan High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs and the first-round pairings will be unveiled on statewide television at 6 p.m. (EDT) on October 24, on the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Net.

The Selection Sunday Show will be a live, 60-minute program which will carry the first announcement of the qualifiers and pairings. The MHSAA, which in the past had produced a similar program on PASS Sports, will produce the program, with FOX Sports Net providing the vehicle for the statewide distribution. But the new program has a different twist.

"In the past, when the pairings were announced on previous programs, schools were already aware of their opponents and had set a game date and time," said John R. Johnson, communications director of the MHSAA. "With the new method of determining playoff qualifiers and pairings, there also had to be a new method of notifying everyone who had made the field and the first-round matchups.

We're pleased that our television partner, FOX Sports Net, was willing to serve as the go-to source for that information."

The program, which will be hosted by John Keating and Matt Shepard, will also feature an interview with MHSAA Executive Director John E. "Jack" Roberts, and the statewide television debut of the video, "What Kids Wish Their Parents Knew About Sportsmanship." The program is sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance.

Shortly after pairings are announced on the Selection Sunday Show, they will also be released to the media and posted to the MHSAA Web Site - www.mhsaa.com. The approximate Web Site release timetable is as follows:

Division 7 & 8 Pairings - 6:15 p.m.
Division 5 & 6 Pairings - 6:30 p.m.
Division 3 & 4 Pairings - 6:45 p.m.
Division 1 & 2 Pairings - 7 p.m.

Host schools will provide game dates and times to the MHSAA for posting on its web site on October 25. Update times are approximately Noon and 4:30 p.m.

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.