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Ohio High School Athletic Association and its infinite wisdom.......

OhioLion

Well-Known Member
Jul 11, 2001
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Heart of America, Archbold, OH
State Championship weekend a week later this year due to having an expanded number of teams from each region making playoffs. BTW, the coaches voted against having 16 teams per region, but the OHSAA decided the majority doesn't rule. It's all about the money - surprise, surprise.
It's estimated that OHSAA took in an additional $1.5 million for the extra games where some 1-win teams were able to get into the playoffs.
Now, you have struggled through five playoff games and won the right to play for a state championship. (Unfortunately, my Archbold Bluestreaks finished with a loss in the third round and finished 12-1 for the season). You get your schedule and realize you will need to spend a night in Canton, feed the team, staff, all involved multiple meals, aaaaaannnnnnnd.... yeah, you are on your own.
OHSAA used to give meal money, pay for some of hotels, but not anymore.
Teams now foot 100% on their own. Van Wert High School last year needed to run fundraisers to cover their costs of a state championship run.
Largest schools are D-1.
D-1 Springfield (244 miles travel) v Lakewood St. Ed's (65) playing at 7:30 Friday night. Springfield likely not getting on a bus for a 4-hour ride home at roughly 11:00-:30.
D-2 Cincy Winton Woods (246) v Akron Hoban (24) Thursday 7:00
D-3 Hamilton Baden (239) v Chardon (61) Friday 3:00 - doable
D-4 Clarksville Clinton Massie (211) v Youngstown Ursiline (58) Friday 10:30
D-5 Versailles (209) v Kirtland (68) Saturday 7:30
D-6 Coldwater (200( v Carey (119) Saturday 3:00
D-7 Newark Catholic (96) v Maria Stein (198) Saturday 10:30

D-5 Versailles and D-6 Coldwater are from the same league. In 2014, the conference, Midwest Athletic Conference, had 3 state champions - D5, 6, 7. St. Henry, home to Jeff Hartings of the PSU '94 team, is in this conference. Archbold is D-6 and has around 50 boys per class. It gives you an idea of the size of the D-5 through D-7 schools. Small schools in the MAC that continue to produce year after year after year in all sports. Link to the league state championship page. Hopefully, I did this correctly.

Why do I post this? Because it is 11:12 at night and I thought I would share.

OL
 
State Championship weekend a week later this year due to having an expanded number of teams from each region making playoffs. BTW, the coaches voted against having 16 teams per region, but the OHSAA decided the majority doesn't rule. It's all about the money - surprise, surprise.
It's estimated that OHSAA took in an additional $1.5 million for the extra games where some 1-win teams were able to get into the playoffs.
Now, you have struggled through five playoff games and won the right to play for a state championship. (Unfortunately, my Archbold Bluestreaks finished with a loss in the third round and finished 12-1 for the season). You get your schedule and realize you will need to spend a night in Canton, feed the team, staff, all involved multiple meals, aaaaaannnnnnnd.... yeah, you are on your own.
OHSAA used to give meal money, pay for some of hotels, but not anymore.
Teams now foot 100% on their own. Van Wert High School last year needed to run fundraisers to cover their costs of a state championship run.
Largest schools are D-1.
D-1 Springfield (244 miles travel) v Lakewood St. Ed's (65) playing at 7:30 Friday night. Springfield likely not getting on a bus for a 4-hour ride home at roughly 11:00-:30.
D-2 Cincy Winton Woods (246) v Akron Hoban (24) Thursday 7:00
D-3 Hamilton Baden (239) v Chardon (61) Friday 3:00 - doable
D-4 Clarksville Clinton Massie (211) v Youngstown Ursiline (58) Friday 10:30
D-5 Versailles (209) v Kirtland (68) Saturday 7:30
D-6 Coldwater (200( v Carey (119) Saturday 3:00
D-7 Newark Catholic (96) v Maria Stein (198) Saturday 10:30

D-5 Versailles and D-6 Coldwater are from the same league. In 2014, the conference, Midwest Athletic Conference, had 3 state champions - D5, 6, 7. St. Henry, home to Jeff Hartings of the PSU '94 team, is in this conference. Archbold is D-6 and has around 50 boys per class. It gives you an idea of the size of the D-5 through D-7 schools. Small schools in the MAC that continue to produce year after year after year in all sports. Link to the league state championship page. Hopefully, I did this correctly.

Why do I post this? Because it is 11:12 at night and I thought I would share.

OL
All football is about money. College football is money first. There is no more student athlete. It is money athlete. Even at Penn State
 
State athletic associations have been expanding the number of divisions, hence more playoff games and more $. NC used to have four classifications, but it's been 8 for a few years. I see 7 in Ohio, 6 in PA. Maybe there's some competitive reasons, but the travel has definitely increased.
 
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Forgive my ignorance, but how in the world does HS football bring in $1.5M? Here in IL they charge like $5 to get into the games. The championship games are on TV and maybe some of the playoff games along the way, but I can't imagine it's a huge amount of money they're getting there, but maybe I'm wrong. Enlighten me
 
Forgive my ignorance, but how in the world does HS football bring in $1.5M? Here in IL they charge like $5 to get into the games. The championship games are on TV and maybe some of the playoff games along the way, but I can't imagine it's a huge amount of money they're getting there, but maybe I'm wrong. Enlighten me
This gets long…..
Apologies on the dollar amount. It’s closer to $2.25 million.
4 add’l games per region
4 regions per division
7 regions in the state for football
Additional 112 games.
Tickets are $10 each. $12 each inside the 4-hour window of game time.
All tickets online.
Estimated attendance per site 2,000.
Archbold, where I live and coach, is D-6 and our 2 home playoff games averaged just under 1,000. A neighboring district is D-7 and averaged @1,200 in their 2 games. Obviously, the larger districts likely averaged over 2,000. D-7 smallest and D-1 largest.
Each site (home team) given $2,000 to cover costs of rental, crowd control and other workers. Our school made a whopping $69.14 on the first game and just shy of $200 on second.
Therefore, income from ticket sales $2,240,000 at $10 a ticket. Round to $2,250,000 to adjust for late ticket sales at $12 each.
112 sites receiving $2,000 expense money =$224,000.
$2,250,000 - $224,000 and you get $2,276,000. This does not account for taped delay broadcasts on TV, but unsure of what they were charged.
These figures were shared with me by a group that covers NW Ohio high school football and Archbold AD.
This is for ONLY the first round of playoffs which is new this season

Hope this helps,

OL
 
This gets long…..
Apologies on the dollar amount. It’s closer to $2.25 million.
4 add’l games per region
4 regions per division
7 regions in the state for football
Additional 112 games.
Tickets are $10 each. $12 each inside the 4-hour window of game time.
All tickets online.
Estimated attendance per site 2,000.
Archbold, where I live and coach, is D-6 and our 2 home playoff games averaged just under 1,000. A neighboring district is D-7 and averaged @1,200 in their 2 games. Obviously, the larger districts likely averaged over 2,000. D-7 smallest and D-1 largest.
Each site (home team) given $2,000 to cover costs of rental, crowd control and other workers. Our school made a whopping $69.14 on the first game and just shy of $200 on second.
Therefore, income from ticket sales $2,240,000 at $10 a ticket. Round to $2,250,000 to adjust for late ticket sales at $12 each.
112 sites receiving $2,000 expense money =$224,000.
$2,250,000 - $224,000 and you get $2,276,000. This does not account for taped delay broadcasts on TV, but unsure of what they were charged.
These figures were shared with me by a group that covers NW Ohio high school football and Archbold AD.
This is for ONLY the first round of playoffs which is new this season

Hope this helps,

OL
Wow, that was just first round? Talking some serious change when all is said and done. The PIAA in Pa is not even a governmental agency. It is a voluntary association of the schools with athletic teams. Would love to see some schools start forming their own independent association.
 
Wow, that was just first round? Talking some serious change when all is said and done. The PIAA in Pa is not even a governmental agency. It is a voluntary association of the schools with athletic teams. Would love to see some schools start forming their own independent association.
Yep, first round of six.
Not sure what regional finals or state semi-final tickets cost, but state championship weekend is $15 for general adult and $12 for students.
A 3-day package for tomorrow is $38.
OHSAA is making bank, no doubt about it. And, not willing to help schools. IMO, handled incorrectly.

OL
 
My daughter goes to Springfield Local, division 6. Lost to Anna two years ago, then Coldwater last year in the championship games. Both from the MAC. Any idea why these schools are so good? Using open enrollment for recruiting? Also lost to Carey this year in the semifinals.
 
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My daughter goes to Springfield Local, division 6. Lost to Anna two years ago, then Coldwater last year in the championship games. Both from the MAC. Any idea why these schools are so good? Using open enrollment for recruiting? Also lost to Carey this year in the semifinals.
Same region as Archbold. Actually we would have played Springfield had we continued winning.
As for the MAC, not solid reason why year-in and year-out they are good.
Open enrollment, doubtful as they
be taking from one another. These are small schools and most, if not all, do not have soccer to compete with for players.
Make the playoff runs they do and the young kids get an extra 4-5 weeks of practice. Teams literally in three years (9th - 11th) can add up to an additional 15 weeks of football practice for underclassmen.
We joke that we need to fill a tanker a month with the water from there and bring it to our HS to drink.

OL
 
Saw this tweet this morning.
@courtneybrownsjockstrap this helps explain why they are good each year. It’s genes in the jeans!!


Fun fact. Of the 74 boys on Marion Local's football team only 13 have a parent that did NOT graduate from Marion.
40 have 1 parent that did
21 had both parents.
There are 4 sets of brothers on the team. One set of brothers had a parent that did not graduate from Marion.#homegrown

OL
 
That could help explain it. Springfield has been lucky to have a dominate (for d6) athlete at qb for the last three years. He's going to be missed.
 
Kirtland, Ohio D-5 had the longest winning streak in the country, winning 55 straight. The last loss was in 2017, Championship game. That streak ended last Saturday night.
 
State Championship weekend a week later this year due to having an expanded number of teams from each region making playoffs. BTW, the coaches voted against having 16 teams per region, but the OHSAA decided the majority doesn't rule. It's all about the money - surprise, surprise.
It's estimated that OHSAA took in an additional $1.5 million for the extra games where some 1-win teams were able to get into the playoffs.
Now, you have struggled through five playoff games and won the right to play for a state championship. (Unfortunately, my Archbold Bluestreaks finished with a loss in the third round and finished 12-1 for the season). You get your schedule and realize you will need to spend a night in Canton, feed the team, staff, all involved multiple meals, aaaaaannnnnnnd.... yeah, you are on your own.
OHSAA used to give meal money, pay for some of hotels, but not anymore.
Teams now foot 100% on their own. Van Wert High School last year needed to run fundraisers to cover their costs of a state championship run.
Largest schools are D-1.
D-1 Springfield (244 miles travel) v Lakewood St. Ed's (65) playing at 7:30 Friday night. Springfield likely not getting on a bus for a 4-hour ride home at roughly 11:00-:30.
D-2 Cincy Winton Woods (246) v Akron Hoban (24) Thursday 7:00
D-3 Hamilton Baden (239) v Chardon (61) Friday 3:00 - doable
D-4 Clarksville Clinton Massie (211) v Youngstown Ursiline (58) Friday 10:30
D-5 Versailles (209) v Kirtland (68) Saturday 7:30
D-6 Coldwater (200( v Carey (119) Saturday 3:00
D-7 Newark Catholic (96) v Maria Stein (198) Saturday 10:30

D-5 Versailles and D-6 Coldwater are from the same league. In 2014, the conference, Midwest Athletic Conference, had 3 state champions - D5, 6, 7. St. Henry, home to Jeff Hartings of the PSU '94 team, is in this conference. Archbold is D-6 and has around 50 boys per class. It gives you an idea of the size of the D-5 through D-7 schools. Small schools in the MAC that continue to produce year after year after year in all sports. Link to the league state championship page. Hopefully, I did this correctly.

Why do I post this? Because it is 11:12 at night and I thought I would share.

OL
We have 5 class championships in NY State. However, it appears that 6 will be forced on us beginning 2023. This isn't just a football issue...... other sports will also go to 6 and it will depend on the # of schools that compete in the sport throughout the state. So hypothetically speaking (AAA AA A B C D) If I'm an active AD my school's girls soccer team could be a "B" and my boys could be an "A" classification. Try explaining that to parents etc. at playoff time.
 
We have 5 class championships in NY State. However, it appears that 6 will be forced on us beginning 2023. This isn't just a football issue...... other sports will also go to 6 and it will depend on the # of schools that compete in the sport throughout the state. So hypothetically speaking (AAA AA A B C D) If I'm an active AD my school's girls soccer team could be a "B" and my boys could be an "A" classification. Try explaining that to parents etc. at playoff time.
Our school, Archbold, has had different divisions for track. Girls and boys compete in different districts and regionals, this splitting the coaching staff. And, if I’m not mistaken, they have been on the same day some years. Now they are back to same division.

OL
 
Our school, Archbold, has had different divisions for track. Girls and boys compete in different districts and regionals, this splitting the coaching staff. And, if I’m not mistaken, they have been on the same day some years. Now they are back to same division.

OL
Scheduling, busing and finding coaches .....facility usage all become issues.
 
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