WIAA BOARD APPROVES CONCUSSION INSURANCE, REGIONAL TICKET PRICE INCREASE
STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The Board of Control approved purchasing concussion insurance for all member senior and junior high school student-athletes and supported a $1 increase to the price of regional-level tournament admission during its April meeting today.
The HeadStrong Concussion Insurance program provides student-athletes in member schools, approximately 80,000 annually, with zero out-of-pocket costs should they suffer a concussion beginning Aug. 1, 2017. More information on the concussion insurance action is available in a separate release posted on the WIAA website. Wisconsin is the fourth state to provide this coverage for all student-athletes.
The price of admission for regional and football Level 1 and 2 tournament events will be $5 beginning this fall. It is the first regional ticket price increase since soccer and football admissions went to $4 in 2008-09. Member schools will benefit from the increase through the membership’s shared revenue policies. The rationale for the increase addresses new and increasing expenses for membership services and operations.
The Board supported policy language when forfeitures occur in State Tournaments that are seeded. When a team is replaced by its last defeated opponent, the teams in the division will be reseeded using the specified sport’s State seeding criteria if the disqualification occurs up to 24 hours before the first scheduled game of the respective State Tournament, regardless of the division. Anytime after the 24-hour deadline, the replacing team will be inserted in the bracket where the disqualified team was originally seeded.
The Board gave final approval of a conference realignment plan that moves Lincoln High School to the Lakeland Conference for eight-player football only beginning in the fall of 2017.
The Board also approved new and renewed cooperative programs for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 winter sport seasons except in the sports of hockey and gymnastics, which were granted for one year only. Board approval was also granted to the general fund financial statements and payments, and staff recommendations for appointments to the Officials Advisory and Sports Medical Advisory Committees. In addition, the Board voted to take an official position to opposed to Assembly Bill 260 that would permit chiropractors to perform pre-participation sports physicals.
The Executive Staff reports included discussions on Wednesday’s Annual Meeting, 2017 Scholar Athlete ceremony plans, the NFHS Legal Summit and a review of the winter Tournament Series. The Board also received liaison updates from Mike Thompson of the Department of Public Instruction, John Ashley of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and Peggy Seegers-Braun of the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association.
The membership of the WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 511 senior high schools and 38 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It sponsors 27 championship tournament series in 2016-17. For more information, visit the WIAA website at www.wiaawi.org or contact the WIAA office at (715) 344-8580.
# WIAA #
Release by WIAA Communications