MHSAA Attendance Posts 5-Year High
October 6, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason events enjoyed a five-year high in attendance in 2015-16 as two sports saw record fan turnout.
Total attendance for 2015-16 was 1,483,724 fans, an increase of 6.8 percent over the previous year. Girls attendance was 461,419, less than a percent lower than the record set in 2014-15 but still the second largest overall girls turnout since data was first tracked in 1990-91. Boys attendance was 1,022,305 fans, a four-year high helped notably by an increased football crowd last fall. Attendance is kept for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis, for which admission typically is not charged.
The track & field and bowling tournaments, which include attendance for girls and boys events combined, set overall records. Track & field broke a 2011-12 record with 37,773 fans overall and a Regional record of 22,413, and bowling set an overall attendance record for the fifth straight season with 13,919 fans and a Regional record of 9,948.
Football attendance did rebound significantly after a snowy opening weekend in 2014 resulted in the lowest playoff attendance since the 256-team 11-player field was introduced in 1999. Overall football attendance jumped to a three-year high of 389,897, a 25.4 percent increase from the 2014 postseason and with increases seen at the Pre-District, District and Regional levels.
Ten more tournament series showed increases in total attendance over the 2014-15 school year: gymnastics (2.0 percent), softball (2.8 percent), baseball (0.5 percent), girls swimming & diving (12.7 percent), boys swimming & diving (14.6 percent), boys basketball (1.5 percent), girls and boys cross country (combined, 2.1 percent), boys soccer (2.4 percent), team wrestling and individual wrestling all saw increases in overall attendance from the previous school year. Volleyball fell just shy of equaling the previous year’s record, drawing 110,638 fans, a decrease of 293 from the 2014 season but still the second-most since records first were kept in 1990-91. Volleyball did, however, set attendance records at the Regional (26,445) and Semifinal (4,765) levels of the tournament.
Also of note:
• The Boys Basketball Finals draw of 47,407 was a five-year high and a 16.9 percent increase from 2014-15. The Girls Basketball Finals drew 22,301 fans, the most for a Semifinals/Finals weekend since 2004-05 and an increase of 12 percent over 2014-15. Girls basketball’s overall tournament attendance of 169,523 was a decrease of 1.2 percent from 2014-15, but still the second-highest attendance for the sport since 2005-06.
• Overall softball attendance increased for the third straight year to 44,515, the highest total since the record-setting spring of 1994-95.
• Boys Soccer Finals drew 4,906 fans, the most for that event since 2007-08.
• Coming off a record high in 2013-14 and then a sharp decrease the following year, the Ice Hockey Finals rebounded with 10,709 fans, a 7.9 percent increase from the winter before.
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.
MHSAA Provides Heat Management Reminders in Advance of 2023 Fall Practices
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 1, 2023
Temperatures reached record highs in some parts of Michigan at the start of this summer, and heat waves have made headlines nationally over the last month. Although the state didn’t experience similar extremes during July, the beginning of August always is a pertinent time for reminders that more hot weather is likely in many areas and should be prepared for as Michigan High School Athletic Association practices are set to begin Monday, Aug. 7.
Each year, the MHSAA provides information to its member schools to help them prepare for hot weather practice and game conditions during the late summer and early fall. Practices for all Fall 2023 sports – cross country, football, Lower Peninsula girls golf, boys soccer, Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving, Lower Peninsula boys and Upper Peninsula girls tennis, and volleyball – may begin Monday, Aug. 7.
The “Health & Safety” page of the MHSAA Website has links to several information sources, including the MHSAA preseason publication Heat Ways, which is available for download and includes valuable information on heat management in addition to requirements and resources regarding head injuries and sudden cardiac arrest.
The first days of formal practices in hot weather should be more for heat acclimatization than the conditioning of athletes, and practices in such conditions need planning to become longer and more strenuous over a gradual progression of time. Schools also must consider moving practices to different locations or different times of day, or change practice plans to include different activities depending on the conditions. Furthermore, football practice rules allow for only helmets to be worn during the first two days, only shoulder pads to be added on the third and fourth days, and full pads to not be worn until the fifth day of team practice.
The MHSAA advises student-athletes to make sure to hydrate all day long – beginning before practice, continuing during and also after practice is done. Water and properly-formulated sports drinks are the best choices for hydration.
A number of member schools follow the MHSAA’s Model Policy for Managing Heat & Humidity, which while not mandated for member schools was adopted as a rule for MHSAA postseason competition in 2013. The plan directs schools to begin monitoring the heat index at the activity site once the air temperature reaches 80 degrees, and provides recommendations when the heat index reaches certain points, including ceasing activities when it rises above 104 degrees. (When the temperature is below 80 degrees, there is no combination of heat and humidity that will result in a need to curtail activity.) The model heat & humidity policy is outlined in a number of places on the MHSAA Website, including as part of Heat Ways.