Statement on Spectators, Winter Contact Sports
January 22, 2021
Second Half
The following statements are attributable to Mark Uyl, executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, in response to today’s announcements by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on the topics of spectators and Winter contact sports.
Governor Whitmer and MDHHS announced that sports arenas with capacities of at least 10,000 spectators may allow up to 500 to attend events. However, no additional tickets will be sold for today and Saturday’s 11-Player Football Finals at Ford Field.
“We have been planning these Finals for weeks to include immediate family, and unfortunately this isn’t a process we can adjust midstream,” Uyl said. “Distributing more tickets would put stress on those plans and Ford Field staffing, and force schools to make more hard decisions on who will be able to attend, but at the last second instead of with prior planning.”
Governor Whitmer and MDHHS also announced that Winter contact sports – including MHSAA activities in girls and boys basketball, competitive cheer, ice hockey and wrestling – must remain non-contact through Feb. 21. The previous emergency order was set to expire at the end of January and would’ve allowed those sports to begin contact activities Feb. 1.
“We found out about this decision at 9:30 a.m. like everyone else, and we will address it as quickly as possible after taking the weekend to collect more information,” Uyl said. “We did not anticipate this delay in winter contact practices and competition, and today’s announcement has created many new questions.
“Obviously, this is disappointing to thousands of athletes who have been training with their teams over the last week and watching teams in other states around Michigan play for the last two months.”
MHSAA Schools' National Participation Ranking Rises, Continues to Outpace Population
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 12, 2024
Michigan’s national ranking for participation in high school athletics improved during the 2023-24 school year, overall and also for girls and boys sports separately, and while continuing to outpace its national ranking for high school-aged population, according to the annual national participation study conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Michigan moved back into eighth for overall participation nationally, based on a total of 289,740 participants, after ranking ninth in 2022-23. The total counts students once for each sport played, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
Michigan improved to seventh nationally for boys (169,533) and eighth for girls (120,207) participation separately, after ranking ninth for both the previous year and despite currently ranking 10th for both high school-aged boys and girls populations according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Michigan’s national rankings in eight sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments improved from 2022-23, with only four sports moving down on their respective lists from the previous year.
Notably, Michigan led the nation in participation in a sport for the first time in at least 14 years – boys bowling with 4,292 athletes – and also moved up to third nationally for girls bowling, girls golf and girls tennis participation. Boys golf (fourth), wrestling (seventh – girls and boys combined), girls competitive cheer (eighth) and boys lacrosse (nine) also moved up on their respective lists.
Keeping with annual trends, participation in several more MHSAA sports also continued to outpace the state’s rankings for high school-aged population.
For girls, participation in volleyball (fifth), cross country (sixth), basketball (seventh), softball (seventh), swimming & diving (eighth), track & field (eighth) and soccer (ninth) all ranked higher than their population listing of 10th nationally. Among boys sports, ice hockey (fourth), tennis (fifth), track & field (sixth), basketball (seventh), cross country (seventh), football (seventh – 11 and 8-player combined), baseball (eighth), swimming & diving (eighth) and soccer (ninth) exceeded the boys ranking of 10th for population.
Only 11 states sponsor alpine skiing, but Michigan again ranked third on both the girls and boys lists for that sport. For wrestling, boys participation moved down one spot to eighth but girls participation moved up one spot to seventh – and their totals combined ranked seventh nationally overall, also up one spot from 2022-23.
Participation nationally exceeded 8,000,000 participants for the first time, with a total of 8,062,302 an increase of 2.7 percent from 2022-23. The total includes 4,638,785 boys and 3,423,517 girls – both record highs – according to figures obtained from the 51 NFHS member state associations, which includes the District of Columbia.
Eleven-player football remained the most popular boys sport and registered an increase for the second consecutive year from 1,028,761 to 1,031,508 athletes. There also was an increase in 8-player football participation from 23,812 to 26,420.
Next on the boys list were outdoor track & field, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, cross country, tennis, golf, and swimming & diving, respectively.
For girls, outdoor track & field, volleyball and soccer all registered increases and remained the top three participatory sports. Track & field increased four percent to 506,015, followed by volleyball at 479,125 and soccer with 383,895 participants. Basketball ranked fourth, followed by softball, tennis, cross country, competitive spirit, swimming & diving and lacrosse, respectively.
Texas (859,301) and California (834,103) remained atop the list of state participation. New York (341,454) remained in third, followed by Pennsylvania (336,946), Ohio (323,117), Illinois (320,603), Florida (299,398), Michigan (289,740), New Jersey (280,798) and Minnesota (224,179).
The NFHS participation survey was started in 1971 and compiled in its current form through the 2018-19 school year, resuming annually with the 2021-22 survey.
The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS writes playing rules for 17 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,800 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including more than eight million in high school sports.
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.