LHSAA votes to open door for split sites for five championships

Louisiana High School Athletic Association principals voted Friday to allow select schools to decide the site of its football, boys and girls basketball and baseball and softball championships, beginning next year.

In separate votes, school leaders approved proposals by Teurlings Catholic High School principal Mike Boyer to allow the select schools to have control of its championship events in those sports.

Football has operated with nine championships – five non-select and four select – since 2013. Principals voted to split championships in basketball, baseball and softball soon thereafter.

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Originally, Boyer’s baseball championships proposal – the first to come to a vote – failed by a margin of 130-121, but when moments later the basketball proposal passed by a 153-149 vote, a motion was made to reconsider the baseball proposal. The motion to reconsider easily passed and the second vote then passed by a 146-122 count.

After the baseball proposal passage, the proposal was amended to change the start date to 2020 so as not to violate existing contracts. The amendment and revised proposal both passed by comfortable margins.

With the wheels of change in motion, principals passed the proposals for similar changes to the football and softball championships by much larger margins. Like baseball, the softball proposal was amended to begin in 2020.

The LHSAA will have to decide later this spring how the championships will be structured for the purposes of seeking bids.

With only the volleyball and football state championships currently being held in the New Orleans area, Friday’s decisions would, on paper, present a great opportunity for select championships in many of these sports to return to southeast Louisiana.

The overwhelming majority of select schools are located along the I-10 corridor between New Orleans and Lafayette.