Competitiveness, attendance and profit all on decline for LHSAA championships

It has not been a good week for the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. 

The girls basketball championships in Alexandria have featured very few competitive games and few fans in the seats.

However, kudos go to the host committee. Reporters and coaches have said repeatedly what a great job the tournament organizers have done at the Rapides Coliseum.

For years, the Coliseum hosted the boys championships. There was a lot of hoops history made in central Louisiana.

Unfortunately, not much has been made this week.

The girls Division I semifinals were decided by 37 and 28 points.

In Division II, Ursuline was not challenged on the way to their title, winning its games by 29 and 27 points.

In Class 4A, neither of the semifinals or the championship game were decided by single digits.

Last weekend, I received a text telling me that Christ Episcopal school would play its semifinal game at 11:30 am Monday.

I did a double take. But hey, because of the split playoffs in the LHSAA, anything goes. Except apparently quality competition.

The Alexandria venue for the girls had several challenges. 

First, many of the teams competing were from southeast Louisiana and metro New Orleans. Playing games in the middle of a school day, three and a half hours from campus, certainly hampers attendance.

Many years ago, I remember getting on a bus to Alexandria to watch my alma mater play in a state semifinal. It was a one point game, a classic to cherish.

Oh well, those used to happen in Louisiana.

Earlier this week, the 18 schools who played in the Superdome Classic began to receive their checks from LHSAA. Each school, depending on class or division, receives a certain “guarantee” plus one dollar for every presale ticket sold at the school.

The folks at Hahnville are up in arms, and they should be. The rabid Tiger faithful purchased 9,777 tickets at school.

Along with their guarantee of $15,500 in class 5A, Hahnville should have received $25,277.

The school received a check for $8,817.

Several schools were contacted. All said the same thing. They were short several thousand dollars.

LHSAA executive director Eddie Bonine said that to his knowledge this was the first time schools didn’t get their “guarantee.”

But he said the term was misleading.

Bonine said the LHSAA followed a formula to make the calculations. Part of that formula had to take into account the more than $500,000 it cost to rent the Superdome for 9 games and practices.

“We did everything by the book”, said Mr. Bonine.

Bonine said he has no intention of moving the championships out of the Superdome. Several athletic directors and coaches this week said differently.

Very few schools, if any, have unlimited budgets. They count the cash from the Superdome to be used to operate their programs.

Yet, these days the LHSAA has a new business model. Fewer fans, fewer dollars and a ridiculous amount of championships in split sports are the norm.

And you can’t blame Bonine.

Thanks to the principals, the LHSAA is a listing ship, at best.

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