MHSAA Attendance Posts 6-Year High
September 21, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MHSAA tournament events posted an increase in attendance for the second straight school year in 2016-17, drawing 1,492,469 fans – with eight boys sports enjoying larger audiences that the previous year.
Total attendance rose sixth-tenths (0.6) of a percent from 2015-16 to its highest total since 2010-11. Boys attendance rose to 1,034,625 (or 1.2 percent) to its highest total since 2011-12. Girls attendance was 457,844, continuing a trend that has seen the last three school years post the largest audiences for girls tournament events since the MHSAA began annually tracking data in 1990-91. Attendance is kept for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis, for which admission typically is not charged.
The second straight boys increase was keyed in part by a pair of records. Baseball drew 50,820 fans, breaking the previous record set during the 2009 season while also seeing a record turnout at the District level. Boys lacrosse, with 11,211 total attendance, broke the previous record set in 2010.
The boys basketball tournament, with 330,588 fans, enjoyed its highest turnout since 2010-11. Football attendance rose for the second straight year with 395,894 fans total, enjoying single-round increases at the Pre-District, District and Regional levels. Ice hockey, with 51,812 fans, also saw an increase from 2015-16, as did the boys swimming & diving tournament with 5,694 fans – its highest overall attendance since 2010-11.
Three more records contributed to the overall increase in 2016-17. Softball drew 47,364 fans total, breaking the previous record set in 1994-95. The bowling and cross country tournaments, which both include girls and boys competing at the same sites, both set records as well – bowling with 14,012 fans overall to set a record for the second straight year, and cross country with 20,671 fans, its most since 2011-12.
Two more girls sports also enjoyed increased attendance from 2015-16. The girls lacrosse tournament drew 5,691 fans, a 29 percent increase from the year before and with a record at the Regional level. Girls soccer drew 28,203 fans with increases at the District, Regional and Semifinal levels; the overall attendance was a 3.9 percent increase and the highest since the record 2006-07 season.
Also of note:
• Although girls basketball overall attendance was down half a percent to 168,674, both the Quarterfinals and Semifinal-Finals rounds saw increases from the previous season. The Semifinal-Finals weekend drew 24,120 fans, the most since the record was set for those rounds combined during the 1996 fall season (girls basketball moved from fall to winter beginning with the 2007-08 season.
• The boys basketball attendance increase was bolstered in part by the highest Semifinal-Finals weekend attendance (53,990) since 2008-09 and an increase that weekend of 14 percent from 2015-16.
• Boys Soccer Districts were watched by 15,048 fans, the most since 2008-09, and individual wrestling also enjoyed a bounce-back at its earliest rounds with a three-year high at the District level (10,792 fans) and a six-year high (8,488) at the Regional level.
• Girls gymnastics Regionals (1,146) drew their largest audience since 2002-03, while competitive cheer Regionals (7,333) enjoyed a nine-year high.
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.
Wrestling Additions Highlight Winter Rules Changes
December 5, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The re-definition of the competition area to reward offensive wrestling in the down position is among the most significant rules changes taking effect with the start of 2017-18 competition in 12 winter sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
Beginning with ice hockey’s first games Nov. 13, six sports started play during the final weeks of November, while the rest will be underway by the end of this week. Wrestling on Dec. 6 and Boys & Girls Skiing on Dec. 9 will be the final winter sports to begin competition.
New this winter, wrestlers in the down position will continue competing as long as the supporting point(s) of either wrestler are inbounds. Previously, wrestling stopped when one competitor’s supporting point(s) went out of bounds.
This change creates a larger scoring area and is intended to reduce match stoppages that take place when action moves out of bounds. Supporting points include the parts of the body touching, or within, the wrestling area that bear the wrestler’s weight, other than those parts with which the wrestler is holding the opponent.
Also in wrestling this season, two-piece uniforms are allowed as well as the traditional singlet provided the two-piece uniform follows a list of requirements and does not extend below the knee. In addition, to enhance safety, three maneuvers were made illegal including a front flip or hurdle over an opponent who is in the standing position.
A few notable rules changes in basketball and swimming & diving also will be apparent this winter:
• In basketball, an official may now provide an official warning to the head coach – with that warning then recorded in the scorebook – for misconduct by the coach or other bench personnel including players in and outside the coaching box. This warning is intended to make the message clear that there is misconduct and promote a change in behavior before a technical foul is called. However, a warning is not required prior to calling a technical foul if the misconduct is determined to be major.
• As with Lower Peninsula girls season in the fall, to promote safer take-offs during boys and Upper Peninsula girls swimming relays this winter, the second, third and fourth swimmers must have at least one foot in contact with the starting platform in front of the starting block wedge during take-off. Those second, third and fourths swimmers may not take off with both feet on top of the starting block wedge.
• Divers in the Lower Peninsula will need only four regular-season wins (instead of the previous five) to qualify for the Regional Diving Qualification Meet. A diver also may qualify if he places ahead of all divers from opposing schools in varsity competition in at least four meets, even if he does not finish ahead of his teammates. (This applies only in the Lower Peninsula where Regionals are conducted; Upper Peninsula divers qualify for Finals based on regular-season performance.)
The 2017-18 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls and Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 17, and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 24. A reminder: The MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals that are moving to Ford Field will be a two-day event this winter as opposed to a three-day event as in past seasons.
Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 5, 7 & 9
Regionals – March 12 & 14
Quarterfinals – March 20
Semifinals – March 22-23
Finals – March 24
Girls Basketball
Districts – Feb. 22, 28 & March 2
Regionals – March 6 & 8
Quarterfinals – March 13
Semifinals – March 15-16
Finals – March 17
Girls & Boys Bowling
Team Regionals – Feb. 23
Singles Regionals – Feb. 24
Team Finals – March 2
Singles Finals – March 3
Girls Competitive Cheer
Districts – Feb. 16-17
Regionals – Feb. 24
Finals: March 2-3
Girls Gymnastics
Regionals – March 3
Team Finals – March 9
Individual Finals – March 10
Ice Hockey
Pre-Regionals/Regionals – Feb. 26-March 3
Quarterfinals – March 6-7
Semifinals – March 8-9
Finals – March 10
Girls and Boys Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 12-16
Finals – Feb. 26
Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving
U.P. Girls & Boys Finals – Feb. 17
L.P. Boys Diving Regionals – March 1
L.P. Boys Finals – March 9-10
Wrestling
Team Districts – Feb. 7-8
Individual Districts – Feb. 10
Team Regionals – Feb. 14
Individual Regionals – Feb. 17
Team Quarterfinals – Feb. 23
Team Semifinals & Finals – Feb. 24
Individual Finals – March 2-3
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.
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