Tournament Attendance Tops 1.4 Million
September 17, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The 2012-13 school year marked the sixth straight that attendance at Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason tournaments totaled more than 1.43 million fans, with attendance at girls tournaments topping 430,000 for the fourth straight year.
Total attendance for 2012-13 was 1,433,356 fans, with 1,002,663 at boys tournaments and 430,693 spectators at girls tournaments. Attendance is kept for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis, for which admission typically is not charged.
Girls tournament attendance first topped 400,000 for a school year in 2008-09, then rose over 430,000 for the first time the following year. Helping fuel the total in 2012-13 was a record crowd of 25,290 for competitive cheer (District, Regional and Final rounds combined), and also a record attendance of 12,508 for the girls and boys bowling tournament.
Total attendance did dip slightly in 2012-13, down from 1,479,152 the year before, a drop of 3.1 percent and the lowest since 2006-07. However, four sports joined cheer and bowling with attendance increases from 2011-12 – girls basketball up 4.8 percent to 166,153 fans, gymnastics up 16.8 percent to 2,290, team wrestling up 1.2 percent to 28,863 and ice hockey up 6.5 percent with 59,037 fans this past season.
Football again was the most attended tournament for the sixth consecutive year with 397,944 fans in 2012 – although that represented a 7.3 percent drop from the 2011 playoffs. However, the Regional (5.6 percent) and Semifinal (6.3) rounds both saw increases in fans from the previous season.
Similarly, boys basketball again was second in attendance with 318,325 fans, despite a 1.4 percent decrease from 2011-12. However, the District, Regional and Quarterfinal rounds showed a combined increase of 2.4 percent over the previous season. Girls basketball attendance increased in every round from 2011-12 for an overall increase of 4.8 percent. The Finals weekend total, including semifinals and championship games for each class, was 19,003, the highest since 1992-93.
Girls lacrosse total attendance dropped 9.7 percent to 5,009 fans, but still totaled its second most as an MHSAA sport and set records for Semifinals (1,027) and Finals (1,171) attendance. Volleyball attendance (96,151) remained above 96,000 fans for the fourth consecutive year despite falling 3.2 percent from its 2011-12 record high. Girls soccer dropped less than half a percent from 2011-12 to 26,836 fans, but set a Regional round record with 10,574.
Update: Attendance, Broadcast Information
March 12, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Postseason events sponsored by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and scheduled for March 12-14 will be conducted as scheduled. However, attendance will be restricted at all events through this weekend, with updates to be announced Monday, March 16, for the remainder of the girls and boys basketball tournaments.
The MHSAA Ice Hockey Semifinals and Finals will be played March 12-14 at USA Hockey Arena, with Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals beginning Friday, March 13 and concluding March 14 at Oakland University and Holland Aquatic Center. Girls Gymnastics at Rockford High School also will be competed Friday and Saturday this weekend. Girls Basketball Regionals Finals are scheduled for tonight, March 12, across the state, as are Boys District Finals on Friday, March 13.
Based on recommendations from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer suggesting attendance limitations, no spectators will be allowed for the three Swimming & Diving Finals, both days, or Saturday’s Girls Gymnastics Individual Finals. These events have the highest number of participants of this weekend’s events.
However, for Hockey Semifinals and Finals and Gymnastics Team Finals – events with far fewer participants – a limited number of spectators will be allowed, as determined by participating schools, to include only parents, legal guardians and essential administrators. Basketball games during the next two days also will allow only limited spectators, as determined by participating schools and following these same restrictions. Each competing school will provide the entry list of parents, legal guardians and essential administrators to the host site prior to each contest.
To recap, here is a breakdown of sport-by-sport attendance stipulations and broadcast information.
Boys Swimming & Diving Finals
Rounds: Preliminaries on March 13, Finals on March 14
Attendance: No on-site spectators allowed.
Broadcast: Live streaming of prelims and Finals on MHSAA.tv.
Girls Gymnastics Finals
Rounds: Team Finals on March 13, Individual Finals on March 14
Attendance: Limited to parents, legal guardians and essential administrators on March 13. No on-site spectators allowed March 14.
Broadcast: Live streaming of Team and Individual Finals on MHSAA.tv.
Boys Ice Hockey Semifinals and Finals
Rounds: Semifinals on March 12-13, Finals on March 14
Attendance: Limited to parents, legal guardians and essential administrators.
Broadcast: Live streaming of all nine games on MHSAA.tv. Live audio on MHSAA Network.
Girls Basketball Regional Finals
Rounds: All scheduled for March 12.
Attendance: Limited to parents, legal guardians and essential administrators.
Broadcast: Live streaming of some games, with subscription, on MHSAA.tv.
Boys Basketball District Finals
Rounds: All scheduled for March 13.
Attendance: Limited to parents, legal guardians and essential administrators.
Broadcast: Live streaming of some games, with subscription, on MHSAA.tv.
Bands, cheerleaders and gatherings in parking lots or elsewhere on-site will not be allowed. Restrictions on noisemakers, etc., will continue to be upheld for those fans who will attend.
For those allowed to be present, there will be no admission charged at any of these five events. Online ticket sales have been stopped, and all tickets that have been purchased are voided and will be fully refunded.
Fans not allowed to attend will have the opportunity to watch coverage of all three of this weekend’s Finals live on MHSAA.tv. Complete streaming of all nine Hockey Semifinals and Finals is scheduled, as is streaming of both the Team and Individual Gymnastics Finals and both preliminaries and Finals for swimming & diving. MHSAA.tv also will carry a number of girls and boys basketball games this weekend as part of its usual subscription coverage by members of the School Broadcast Program.
The streaming of all three divisions of the MHSAA Swimming & Diving Finals and both Team and Individual Gymnastics Finals will be provided FREE OF CHARGE. More details about access to these free feeds will be provided in the next update this afternoon. Also, free live audio of the Hockey Semifinals and Finals will be available on the MHSAA Network.
This remains a fluid situation, and another update will be released today, March 12, at 2 p.m. Updates will be posted to the MHSAA Website.
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.