MHSAA Tickets Go Digital with GoFan
November 2, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
The MHSAA, in partnership with GoFan and high schools across the state, have kicked off the 2020 Football Playoffs with a new touchless, digital ticket offering.
Sporting events across the country are looking a little different this year with limited capacity in stadiums, social distancing and other statewide regulations that are challenging state associations and schools to think creatively on how to get fans in the stands safely. Digital ticketing is a faster and more expedient way to attend events and now a safer way as well.
“GoFan will make it easier on our spectators to purchase tickets for our tournament events and easier for our tournament sites from a management standpoint." said Mark Uyl, Executive Director of the MHSAA. “During this pandemic, GoFan is making it more convenient – and safer – for everyone.”
With limited capacity in mind, a select number of tickets are distributed to each team in advance of the game. Priority ticket purchasing is available first to parents and family members through a VIP link. Public sale of tickets may not be offered at all sites, based on availability, but purchasing may be done on the participating school GoFan pages beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday each week.
“GoFan is proud to partner with the MHSAA and play a key role in their digital ticketing implementation across the (state),” said B.J. Pilling, Chief Executive Officer of GoFan. “Digital ticketing is being adopted as the primary choice for many high schools and state associations."
MHSAA and GoFan also are implementing touchless ticketing across the state of Michigan during soccer, volleyball and cross country championships.
For a full list of championship events and how to get your tickets, click here.
About GoFan: GoFan is the leading digital ticketing solution for high school events. Led by innovative technology and unmatched support, GoFan provides schools with a turnkey platform to manage season, online, and at-event ticket sales. GoFan is a product of Huddle Tickets, which has provided over 2 billion event tickets to schools since 2001. Serving over 2,000 high schools and 37 state associations, GoFan provides fans frictionless access to high school events across the country (click link for more). You can also follow the company on Twitter @GoFanHS and LinkedIn, and like GoFan on Facebook.
About Michigan High School Athletic Association: 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.
Girls Basketball Finals Returning to Breslin
September 30, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals weekend could return to the Breslin Student Events Center as quickly as this upcoming 2019-20 season, with Michigan State University hosting the event this winter and in future seasons when the Spartans women’s basketball team is not selected as an opening-round host for the NCAA Tournament.
Breslin hosted the Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals from 2004-06 and 2010-17. However, the potential for a conflict with the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament led to the MHSAA moving the event for the past two seasons. The NCAA awards top-four seeded teams an opportunity to host the first two rounds of its Division I tournament, and the NCAA event falls almost annually on the traditional dates of the MHSAA girls basketball championship weekend – setting up the possible conflict of both events being scheduled to play at Breslin at the same time.
During an initial three-year contract beginning this winter, Breslin tentatively will be the host of the MHSAA Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals. If, beginning in 2021, the Spartans are seeded fourth or higher for the NCAA Tournament and selected to host first and second rounds, the MHSAA Girls Semifinals and Finals will be played at Read Fieldhouse’s University Arena on the campus of Western Michigan University. Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland will serve as the alternative site if Breslin is not available in 2020, as Read is hosting the Mid-American Conference Gymnastics Championships during the weekend of the MHSAA Girls Semifinals and Finals.
“We are thankful for the graciousness of all parties involved to allow for this opportunity to bring the Girls Basketball Semifinals and Finals back to the Breslin Center,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “From the Breslin Center staff, to coach Suzy Merchant and the MSU women’s basketball program, to MSU law enforcement, ticketing and hospitality and then Western Michigan and Hope College and their facilities people for agreeing to reserve their arenas for us in case it’s needed – this agreement happens only because of the immense cooperation by everyone involved.”
The MHSAA Girls Basketball Semifinals will be played this upcoming season March 19-20, 2020, with all four championship games March 21. The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament’s opening weekend is March 20-23, with the bracket and seeds to be announced Monday, March 16.
The MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals traditionally are played at the Breslin Center the following weekend, this upcoming season March 26-28. All games for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament are played at neutral sites, and there is no possible conflict between the two events.
Read Fieldhouse, home to Broncos teams including the women’s and men’s basketball programs, unveiled a new basketball court at the start of the 2015-16 season among a variety of improvements to the facility over the last five years. The MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals were played at Read from 1983-85, and WMU also hosted the MHSAA Girls Volleyball Finals from 1996 through the 2007 winter season, the last before the MHSAA season for the sport moved to the fall.
DeVos Fieldhouse, the 2020 provisional site, is home to Hope’s hoops teams among other athletic programs and previously hosted the 2013 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Final Four.