3 Sports Secure New Homes for 2017-18
May 9, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Championship rounds for girls basketball, team wrestling and individual wrestling will have new homes for the 2017-18 season, as approved by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Spring Meeting, May 7-8, in Glen Arbor.
The Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals, played from 2004-06 and then 2010-17 at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center at Michigan State University, will move to Van Noord Arena on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids. The Team Wrestling Finals, contested the last two seasons at McGuirk Arena at Central Michigan University after a long run at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena, will begin at least a four-year engagement at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo.
The Individual Wrestling Finals, previously a three-day event hosted by The Palace of Auburn Hills from 2002 through this March, will be contested at Ford Field in Detroit over two days.
In addition to those changes, the Representative Council also approved keeping the MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals at the Breslin Center for the 2017-18 season and approved a return to Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome as the host of both 8-Player Football Finals in 2017. NMU hosted the first 8-Player Final in 2011; the 8-Player Football Playoffs will move from one to two divisions beginning this fall.
The moves of the Girls Basketball and Individual Wrestling Finals were made necessary by conditions outside of MHSAA control. The Girls Basketball Finals weekends in 2018 and also 2020-22 will conflict with the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament and an opportunity for Michigan State’s women’s team to host first and second-round games should it qualify and earn a top-16 overall seed. The Individual Wrestling Finals – formerly held at multiple sites before moving together to Joe Louis Arena in 1999 – needed a new host as the Palace is expected to close before next season.
“It is with much gratitude to our recent hosts of the Girls Basketball and Wrestling Finals that we make these changes. But although we have enjoyed our time and relationships built, we also are excited to work with these next facilities and their staffs, who are similarly passionate about creating the finest experiences for our athletes and fans,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “We received interest from a number of facilities and managers who also value what our championship events provide for teams and their communities, and we’re eager to begin working with Calvin College, Wings Event Center and our familiar friends at Ford Field and Northern Michigan University on these endeavors.”
Roberts noted that contracts for the girls and boys basketball and individual wrestling tournaments are for 2017-18 only, but with the possibility of remaining at those sites additional years. The Council also discussed the possibility of changing both girls and boys basketball tournament schedules beginning with the 2018-19 season to help keep more Division I college and commercial venues available to host those events. The MHSAA will investigate alternative sites and develop an adjusted basketball season schedule for Council consideration in December. The Boys Basketball Finals weekend in 2019 as scheduled also conflicts with the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Although Van Noord Arena has never hosted an MHSAA Final, it twice has hosted NCAA Division III Women’s College Basketball Finals. The 5,000-seat arena hosted its first game in 2009, and while smaller than Breslin, is expected to provide a festive atmosphere with the possibility of being filled to near capacity for many of the MHSAA’s tournament games. Attendance at this past season’s MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals was 24,120 over three days – just shy of an all-time record – with a high of 5,272 fans for the Class A/D Finals session March 18.
"To host the MHSAA girls basketball state championship weekend is an honor for the Calvin College community," said Donna Joyce, Calvin's Business Development Manager. "We can't wait to welcome teams and their fans, and our goal is to provide first-rate hospitality to all who visit our beautiful campus next March."
Wings Event Center will allow the MHSAA to again stage all four championship matches on adjacent mats simultaneously – the format for most of the first 29 years of the Team Finals, but not last season as the Finals were split into two two-match blocks to help accommodate for attendance after the Team Finals session sold out in 2016. Wings has seating for 5,100 fans and additional standing-room capacity for 1,000 more.
"We are excited the MHSAA has awarded this prestigious state championship to Wings Event Center," said Greg Ayers, President & CEO for Discover Kalamazoo. "This venue and our community will provide for an excellent location for both the participants and fans attending this event. We look forward to working with the MHSAA in creating an outstanding championship site."
Ford Field, which has hosted MHSAA football championship games since 2005, will be configured for placement of up to 20 mats covering approximately half the football playing surface area. Seating will be configured to a capacity of roughly 24,000 in the lower bowl. The tournament schedule, which previously included one round of wrestling on the first day, followed by four rounds on both the second and third days of the event, will be adjusted to begin with four rounds Friday, March 2, 2018, and end with five rounds on Saturday, March 3. The three-day wrestling event drew 37,013 fans this past winter.
"We are excited to expand our existing relationship with the MHSAA to host the Individual Wrestling Finals at Ford Field in 2018," said Detroit Lions’ Senior Vice President of Business Development Kelly Kozole. "Since opening the stadium in 2002, it's been an honor to host the MHSAA Football Championships and a pleasure to see many MHSAA alumni come back to Ford Field as NFL players. As a professional sports franchise, we have the utmost appreciation for the significant role high school athletics play in the community and will continue to embrace opportunities to support them."
The 14,579-seat Breslin Center has been home to the Boys Basketball Finals since 1994. The event drew 53,990 fans over three days of Semifinals and championship games this winter, the largest overall attendance since 2012. The Class D/A Finals session drew 13,251 fans.
For 8-player football, the Council discussed long-distance travel possibilities to both sites that previously have hosted MHSAA Finals – the Superior Dome hosted the first 8-player championship game in 2011, and Greenville High School’s Legacy Field served as host from 2012-16. The 8-player tournament will move to two divisions this fall after playing with only one division during the first six years of its tournament history, and both championship games will be played during the same weekend at NMU.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to host the 8-Player Finals, along with the opportunity to continue hosting 11-Player Semifinals as well,” said Carl Bammert, NMU’s Associate Athletic Director and supervisor of its sports complex, including the Superior Dome. “We’re always excited for the opportunity for exposure from getting high school students and their families on campus and at the Superior Dome.”
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 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 more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
Rep Council Considers Several Topics During Fall Meeting for 2023-24 Work
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 7, 2023
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association began examining several topics during its Fall Meeting, Dec. 1 in East Lansing – including start and end dates of the winter calendar, possible new transfer rule exceptions and emerging sports – that will shape its work during the winter and spring meetings of this 2023-24 school year.
Generally, the Council takes only a few actions during its Fall Meeting, with topics often introduced for additional consideration and action during its meetings in March and May. The Council did take three actions this time as part of larger conversations expected to continue over the next six months.
The Council joined staff discussion on the start and end dates of winter seasons and the possibility of moving up both, which was among topics surveyed as part of the Update Meeting poll completed by administrators during the MHSAA’s annual presentations across the state this fall. Staff will prepare a recommendation for Council to review at a future meeting regarding the 2025-26 school year and beyond.
MHSAA staff also provided a variety of transfer rule issues encountered over the last year, and Council discussed the possibility of adding transfer rule exceptions related to military transfer families, fulltime school employee transfers and students returning from a sports academy or prep school and seeking immediate eligibility. The Council did adopt a change for multi-high school districts (with at least three high schools) that include both boundary and non-boundary schools that more clearly defined where students at those schools have immediate eligibility.
The Council also discussed possible new and emerging sports, including proposals for MHSAA sponsorship received by the water polo and field hockey governing bodies and an anticipated proposal to add boys volleyball to the MHSAA Tournament lineup.
Several more conversations regarded MHSAA postseasons:
- The Council reviewed the work of the Football Task Force and considered a staff recommendation to have the Football Committee in January discuss possibly capping enrollment of Division 8 11-player schools at 250 students to incentivize schools within that group to play 11-player instead of switching to 8-player.
- MHSAA staff have identified four areas requiring financial increases – MHSAA Tournament officials fees, host schools compensations, manager honorariums and team reimbursements for Finals participants – and the Council discussed the importance of including these when the MHSAA Audit & Finance Committee meets in February to begin the 2024-25 budgetary process.
- The Council also discussed recommendations from the MHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee addressing possible requirements of emergency action plans and AEDs at MHSAA Tournament sites.
The Fall Meeting saw the appointment of Wyoming Godfrey-Lee Schools superintendent Arnetta Thompson and Freeland Middle School principal Jennifer Thunberg to two-year terms to the 19-person Council, the first terms for both. The Council also reelected Scott Grimes, superintendent for Grand Haven Area Public Schools, as its president; Brighton High School athletic director John Thompson as its vice president, and Vic Michaels, director of physical education and athletics for the Archdiocese of Detroit, as secretary-treasurer.
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 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 more than 1.4 million spectators each year.