OHSAA explains ticket prices

The athletic organization relies on football and basketball revenue to finance other sports.

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

A few weeks ago, Columbiana’s always-colorful football coach, Bob Spaite, had this to say about the Ohio High School Athletic Association charging — and keeping — $9 for playoff tickets sold at the gate:

“That’s a total rip as far as I’m concerned,” said Spaite.

Or is it?

“It’s one of the things we hear a lot, especially from coaches or fans who attend football state championships — or wrestling or basketball championships — and they walk into a stadium or arena and see 15,000 or 18,000 people and say, ‘The OHSAA must be raking it in,’” said Tim Stried, director of information services for the OHSAA. “That’s actually far from the truth.”

Like a store that relies on Christmas receipts to pay July’s bills, the OHSAA relies heavily on certain events in certain sports to cover the cost for all schools in all sports.

It’s not all that different from the schools themselves, who rely on football and basketball revenue to help pay for things like cross country uniforms or baseball batting cages.

Finance-wise, November and March are the OHSAA’s two most important months, since the organization gets most of its revenue from tournaments in football, boys and girls basketball and wrestling.

Problem is, attendance in those four sports has been declining over the past decade, prompting the OHSAA in recent years to raise tickets prices and seek out new revenue sources to cover costs.

In football, for instance, total attendance for last year’s tournament was just 516,466 — down from 811,409 in 2001. That’s a 36 percent drop.

The state championships paint a similar picture, with each football final drawing an average of 8,070 fans last season compared to 10,944 in 2001.

There’s no one factor to explain the drop-off — theories range from the graying of Ohio’s population to the shrinking of small-town communities to the increased number of entertainment options — but the falling revenue has a huge impact on the OHSAA’s budget, since 80 percent of the budget comes from tournament revenue.

“When the amount coming in is slowly shrinking, the budget has to go down and that has forced us to potentially makes some tough decisions,” said Stried.

According to Stried, Ohio is the only state in the nation that offers these five financial benefits to its member schools:

UNo annual membership fee.

UNo tournament entry fee.

UFree catastrophic insurance coverage (which is a $700,000 annual premium).

UReimbursement to schools for travel expenses to regional and state tournaments in some sports. (This can cover travel, lodging and food, depending on the circumstances.)

UThe opportunity to keep a percentage of the profits of presale state tournament tickets. (In football’s case, $1.20 of each $7 presale ticket.)

For many years, the OHSAA actually had membership and tournament entry fees, eliminating them in the 1980s.

“When we talk with people from other states, they’re always impressed we offer those five things,” said Stried. “We get a lot of compliments.”

Tickets prices were frozen for the 2009-10 season and the OHSAA planned a 2010-11 freeze, although declining revenue may force them to rethink that plan.

According to a June story in The Plain Dealer, ticket prices for state finals in football, basketball (girls and boys) and wrestling, rose just $2 from 1990 to 2000, from $5 to $7. Football and girls basketball finals now cost $10 at the gate, $12-$15 for boys basketball and $13 for wrestling.

Those ticket hikes — combined with the OHSAA pursuit of other revenue streams and corporate sponsors — have helped the organization’s revenue increase 9.2 percent between 2000 and 2008, the paper reported.

Those four sports help cover costs for other state tournaments. Track and field, for instance, is the OHSAA’s biggest money-loser, with last year’s state and regional tournaments costing $547,608 compared to $429,058 in revenue. Much of that expense comes from the OHSAA reimbursing schools at both the regional and state levels.

“We have 24 championships and I don’t think people understand the amount of money it takes to run 24 championships,” said Stried. “We need to utilize the dollars from our money-making sports to help fund the others.

“Maybe some fans don’t have an interest in golf or tennis, but we do. And we plan to give those golf and tennis and athletes a quality state tournament.”

The OHSAA doesn’t plan to raise ticket prices — at least not significantly — anytime soon and the organization is hesitant to make changes to the five financial benefits it offers members, Stried said.

But smaller changes could be coming. For instance, the OHSAA would like to see regional cross country sites start charging for attendance.

Problem is, some sites — including Boardman High School, which annually hosts the northeast regional meet — don’t have enclosed courses. Currently, Boardman charges a $1 parking fee and attendance is free. If the OHSAA changes its policy, Boardman risks losing the meet.

“We have a really good relationship with that site and we’d rather not move it,” Stried said.

The best way to counter price hikes and policy changes, Stried said, is to simply attend games. Buying presale tickets, for instance, benefits everyone, since the fan saves money, the schools get a portion of the proceeds and the OHSAA shares in the revenue.

And while you may not think about it, that $7 doesn’t just benefit the football team; it may also help your school’s runners and swimmers, too.

“I think a lot of times people might not understand the big picture when it comes to finances,” Stried said. “Hopefully we’re turning that opinion around and showing that we provide a good service.”

scalzo@vindy.com