MHSAA Tournament Attendance Rebounds to Top 1.3 Million Spectators in 2021-22
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 19, 2022
After two school years requiring limited tournament attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 school year saw a total of 1,327,633 fans attend Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason competitions for which attendance is recorded.
That total is 4.2 percent less than attendance during 2018-19 – the last school year before COVID-19 resulted in either the cancelation of championship events or lower spectator numbers due to restrictions in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Still, the 2021-22 spectator totals showed higher turnouts than their most recent restriction-free postseason in four sports, including records at two levels and overall for the MHSAA Baseball Tournament.
The MHSAA annually tracks attendance for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis – for which admission typically is not charged. The 2021-22 attendance totals included 889,155 fans for boys tournament events and 438,478 for girls postseasons. The girls spectatorship nearly reached its pre-COVID total, coming up just 2.3 percent short of 2018-19, while boys spectatorship was down 5.1 percent from that most recent restriction-free school year.
Baseball set a District attendance record this past spring with 35,649 fans, besting the record set just the season before, in 2021, of 34,484 spectators. Baseball also set a Quarterfinals record of 7,203 fans, with the previous record set during the 2013 season. The spectator total for the entire baseball postseason was 59,941 fans, which also bested a record set in 2021, this one by 5.3 percent.
Three more boys sports drew larger overall postseason crowds during 2021-22 than in their most recent restriction-free postseason. Ice Hockey drew 47,293 fans across its three playoff rounds, an increase of 12 percent from the 2019 playoffs, the most recent to be played to their completion before COVID-19. The hockey total was the highest since the 2017 postseason.
Boys soccer set a District record of 18,024 fans in Fall 2021, besting the previous record for that round set during the 1999 season. Soccer’s overall postseason attendance of 40,546 was its highest since setting a record of nearly 43,000 during the 2005 season.
The Individual Wrestling Tournament also saw an improvement from its most recent restriction-free postseason, drawing a total of 41,925 across its three tournament weekends – an increase of 2.7 percent from the 2020 season before crowd restrictions were put in place for 2021.
Football drew the most fans of any MHSAA postseason with 297,425. Boys basketball was the next most-attended sport with 279,255 fans at postseason games. Basketball was the most attended girls sport for postseason play with 141,448 spectators, with volleyball also reaching six figures at 113,572.
Joining baseball, four more spring tournaments returned from COVID-canceled 2020 to set overall attendance records in 2021 – girls soccer, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse and girls and boys track & field (which is competed simultaneously). During the 2022 season, girls soccer was only 294 fans off its previous year’s record pace with 35,143 spectators. Girls and boys track & field drew 37,810 spectators this past spring – 4.8 percent off its 2021 record pace, but still its second-highest attendance since the MHSAA began tracking spectators with the 1990-91 school year. This spring’s boys lacrosse attendance of 15,743 was the second-highest since that sport began with MHSAA sponsorship in 2004-05.
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 1.3 million spectators each year.
MHSAA-Supported Bill Allowing School Retirees to Continue Employment Signed Into Law
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 10, 2023
Recent public school retirees including those serving as coaches, game officials and in other sports-related roles will be able to continue doing so for limited compensation after the signing of a bill Tuesday, Oct. 10, by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer allowing those retirees to receive limited compensation without having their retirement benefits affected.
Public Act 147 (PA 147) amends PA 184, which was signed into law July 25, 2022, and required a retiring public school employee to wait nine months before being rehired – effectively sidelining several longtime coaches, officials and others who play substantial roles in school sports all over the state.
PA 147 instead allows recent retirees to work for a public school district during the first six months of retirement as long as the individual earns less than $15,100 during a calendar year. The great majority of coaches, officials and others who contribute to school sports – public-address announcers, team bus drivers, scoreboard operators and other game managers, for example – earn far less compensation than that maximum allowed with this bill.
Soon after the signing of PA 184 during the summer of 2022, the Michigan High School Athletic Association met with the state’s Office of Retirement Services and several legislators seeking ways to allow public school retirees to remain employed in athletics without that nine-month pause, or without having to work and not be paid. (Prior to PA 184, retirees were required to be detached from a school district for only 30 days before being rehired at less than 30 percent of their compensation at the time of retirement. This allowed most retirees to do so at the end of a school year and then return after 30 days to continue coaching, officiating, etc.)
MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl and Assistant Director Cody Inglis, and Brighton athletic director John Thompson – who serves on the MHSAA Representative Council – all testified in support of PA 147, which was sponsored by 13 legislators from the Michigan House of Representatives and introduced by Rep. Matt Koleszar from Plymouth.
"This new public act fixes the biggest MHSAA concern that recent retirees could not return to coach or officiate during their bona fide retirement period," Uyl said. "Our schools desperately need these experienced and knowledgeable people to continue contributing to athletics, and we're pleased that they'll have that opportunity."
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 1.3 million spectators each year.