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The first WIAA Area Meeting of the year was held in Barneveld today, with significant discussion involving ways the WIAA and member schools can address budget challenges going forward. Other topics for discussion included the football ad hoc committee proposal and the football season going forward, possible changes to the summer baseball tournament and season, Middle Level membership, and "Pink Events". Six other Area Meetings will be held over the next few weeks across the state.

Revenue generation and cost containment important moving forward

Schools have been significantly impacted in recent years by the general economic slowdown, resulting in lower property tax revenue. With budgets further effected by cuts in state aid, athletics are certainly going to be impacted as well. While no programs have been dropped as a result of recent budget cuts, the WIAA staff spent a considerable amount of time and discussion encouraging those in attendance to be mindful of ways to increase revenue and contain costs.

While WIAA playoff ticket prices are set at $4 per adult, schools are free to set regular season ticket prices as they see fit. A sampling of those in attendance showed that some schools charge $3 per adult, others $4, and a few $5. While no one was proposing those prices be raised, it was interesting to see the differences in how much schools charge.

Another area where there was a wide range of responses involved participation fees. A few schools had not yet implemented fees while others charged as much as $195 per sport. Many others fell somewhere in between, while some had additional charges for certain sports that required off-site venues or more funds to operate.

WIAA Executive Director Dave Anderson encouraged schools to think outside the box in generating revenue for athletics, including pursuing endowments and creating tax-exempt foundations.

Among the ideas put forth by the WIAA was to charge admission for spring sports regional and sectional contests. Currently each host site has the option of charging ticket prices, but it is not required nor collected by the WIAA. Several members in attendance indicated they had done well in charging for regional and sectional softball and baseball games in the past, while others had seen little benefit.

According to Anderson, he hopes that by generating more revenue for the WIAA, it will benefit the schools.

"I want to get to the point where we take nothing (in the form of dues) from our members and only give back (in hosting and travel reimbursement)," he indicated.

While revenue generation received a good deal of discussion, many of the athletic directors, principals, and administrators in attendance pressed the WIAA for ways to contain costs. One suggestion was to eliminate sub-varsity scrimmages.

The biggest, and perhaps most controversial, cost containment method discussed at the meeting involved a reduction in the maximum number of games for some or all sports. Most sports have seen an increase in contests in recent years, with much of that a result of fears that AAU/club programs would draw players away.

However, with increased budget pressures, some indicated now may be the time to re-visit those changes. WIAA Associate Director Deb Hauser posed the question of how to reduce contests, if a sport-by-sport review was necessary or an across the board reduction of 10% for all sports may be needed.

While these were just discussion items right now, there could be increased pressure on the WIAA to act in some or all sports.

Football season and tournament structures continue to be reviewed

While today's meeting did not reveal any new information about the future of the high school football season and playoffs, it did generate plenty of discussion nonetheless. The only things we know for sure are that this year we experienced an early start date to maintain nine regular season games, while in 2012 the standard start date will return but features just eight regular season games. Beyond that, there is much uncertainty.

The WIAA is encouraging schools and conferences to plan for a standard nine-game season in 2013 and 2014, but that could change. The Ad Hoc Committee or Big Foot Plan has received much discussion in the last few months, and will likely begin to make it's way through the WIAA committee process later this year or early next year. If it were to pass, it could throw a loop in plans going forward.

There are basically two options on the table going forward:  maintaining the current playoff structure but deciding between nine or eight games; or proceeding with the Ad Hoc Plan. In an unofficial straw poll of those in attendance, when presented with the option of an eight game season or nine game season, about two-thirds to three-quarters chose an eight-game season. In a separate question involving the Ad Hoc Plan, about 50% favored advancing that proposal.

One of the questions raised at the meeting involved the possibility of pushing the the state finals back to the weekend after Thanksgiving. Several significant challenges would result from that however. Dave Anderson pointed to weather as a contributing factor, with the higher possibility for snow and poor conditions that not only could effect the games, but also diminish attendance. Community support and attendance could also be impacted by the deer hunting season and family Thanksgiving get-togethers. With the football playoffs one of just six sports that make a profit (out of 25 offered by the WIAA), the WIAA is hesitant to do anything that would negatively impact attendance.

Finally, facilities would be an issue with a later tournament. With Nebraska joining the Big Ten, Wisconsin now plays on the week after Thanksgiving which makes Camp Randall stadium unavailable. Janesville Parker's Joe Dye suggested exploring Miller Park as an indoor site, but the WIAA's Wade Labecki was quick to point out that the Brewers charge $15,000 just for a baseball game to be played there, and that the stadium was designed with baseball-only in mind and specifically to avoid the Packers or other football games from being played there.

Look for discussion continue throughout the fall and the Ad Hoc Committee Plan to be introduced in some form later in the school year and potentially make it's way to a Board of Control vote.

Other items of discussion

-- While no schools in attendance today offer summer baseball, WIAA staff did give a hint of topics that may receive more discussion in the southeast part of the state. With the twelve Dairyland teams switching from summer to spring baseball, next year's summer tournament will consist of just 56 teams. While the WIAA is interested in continuing to offer the separate seasons, other changes could be forthcoming. With almost all summer teams located in Southeast Wisconsin, there is the possibility of moving the state championships from Stevens Point to a location closer to the schools. Concordia (WI) University in Mequon is in the process of building a new stadium, which was mentioned as a possible destination. The WIAA could also move the summer baseball state qualifiers from eight to four. Finally, while there is support to keep two seasons, if the membership so desires, there could be discussion and a possibility of combining into one.

-- The WIAA has received numerous questions and requests by schools interested in hosting "Pink Events" as fundraisers for cancer research or other causes. Often the teams want to wear special pink jerseys or uniforms, which is allowable in some sports according to NFHS rules but not allowable in others. This puts the WIAA in the unenviable position of potentially having to say "no" to something that should be a great positive. WIAA staff queried those in attendance if they should look into relaxing or eliminating uniform requirements for these events. The consensus response was that there were other ways to show support (pink shoe laces, pink socks, pink warm-ups shirts, etc.) that did not require changes to uniform rules.

-- While fullscale conference realignment was not discussed, representatives from the Southwest Wisconsin Conference once again requested relief from their current situation of only six schools. Deb Hauser floated the idea of combining with the SWAL again. This would present significant enrollment discrepancies however. Also, during the discussion it was revealed that the South Central Conference, another six-team league, was attempting to pry away two unnamed schools from the Capitol Conference. Ultimately, the SWC is and will likely to continue to be in a tough position, with no clear solution on the horizon.

-- The WIAA has seen a steady decrease in Middle School level membership for a number of years, with this year's number at 80 after a high of 120 a few years ago. Most schools in attendance at today's meeting indicated the primary reason they do not join the WIAA at the Middle School level involves dual participation. The consensus seemed to be that if they joined the WIAA and their athletes could not play on a school and club team at the same time, many players would simply not play on the school team at all. WIAA staff seemed to be more open to reviewing dual participation at the Middle Level in order to increase membership.