Schools warned about decrease in reimbursements for state tournament costs

Rising expenses and a projected decline in state tournament revenue has the Minnesota State High School League warning schools there could be no money left to help them offset 2014-15 state tournament participation costs.

A 20 percent drop in revenue, mostly from ticket sales, is projected from tournaments for soccer and football, which are moving outdoors this year for semifinal and championship games for the first time in 33 years. It means 12 soccer games next week and 21 football games in November, long played in the comfort of the Metrodome, will be subject to weather that could limit attendance.

The Prep Bowl games will be held Nov. 21-22 at TCF Bank Stadium. Another potential crimp on soccer fan numbers is holding the last two rounds of the tournament, dominated by metro-area teams, outside of the metro area at St. Cloud State University.

Schools felt a reimbursement hit in the pocketbook after the 2013-14 year. After annual reimbursement checks averaging nearly $1,700 to almost $2,400 for 10 years, participating schools saw an average check of $650 in August.

Next year, "if all projections come to fruition, it could be that for the 2014-15 school year we don't give anything back to schools," said Rich Matter, the league's director of finance.

For schools whose teams reach tournaments, the lack of reimbursements could mean turning more often to booster clubs for greater amounts of financial support or streamlining team travel, lodging and other associated costs.

"The dollars don't stretch far, but every little bit helps," said Treacy Funk, activities director at St. Paul Central. Her school got $650.85 this year. "I hope it's just a short-term situation because that's manageable. If it becomes long-term that's tougher to overcome."

Tournament revenue is projected to drop to $4.79 million from $4.93 million last year. Meanwhile, higher tournament venues costs, such as rent and security, are driving up expenses this year by almost $160,000 to $3.2 million. For example, the girls' basketball state tournament has expanded to five days instead of four as it has adjusted to venue scheduling demands.

Earlier this month the league approved $1 increases in adult and student ticket prices for football state tournament quarterfinal and championship games. Tickets for semifinal games were reduced by $2 for adults and $3 for students. Those changes slightly increased the projected revenue loss.

Schools with state tournament teams have grown accustomed to reimbursements from what the league calls its "revenue sharing plan,'' which considers three factors: travel distance from a school to a tournament site, how many students are participating, and how many days they are competing. Teams or individuals more than 50 miles from a tournament site are reimbursed even if they don't compete on consecutive days. Cheerleaders and bands also count toward reimbursement.

During the 2013-14 school year, Brainerd brought its football team to Collegeville once and Minneapolis twice en route to a second-place finish in the Class 5A Prep Bowl. That run fueled much of $4,035.90 received in reimbursement. East Grand Forks, which received $4,857.83, had both its boys' and girls' hockey teams reach their Class 1A title games.

Activities directors at both outstate-Minnesota schools said the reimbursement money offsets transportation costs. Overlapping travel means the need for more buses, which can result in spending more money for a charter bus, East Grand Forks activities director Scott Koberinski said.

Even with reimbursement dollars projected to drop this year, league executive director Dave Stead said schools are urging the league not to raise state tournament ticket prices. The last multi-tournament ticket price increase came in 2010-11. Some tournaments cost the same as they did in 2003-04. Fifteen league tournaments in 2012-13 made money while 18 others did not.

"For a family of five it becomes a real expensive weekend to go to a state tournament," Brainerd activities director Charlie Campbell said. "We have a lot of folks where it becomes a financial burden."

Funk said fans of Central's teams are often families whose students use free- and reduced-lunch programs. She said charging more for state tournaments would "restrict attendance."

Wayzata activities director Jaime Sherwood said students attending the 2013 boys' hockey state tournament turned down seats in the Xcel Energy Center lower bowl because it was cheaper to sit in the upper level.

"If that's Plymouth and Wayzata, what are other communities thinking?" Sherwood said.

The league's grim budget forecast is for this year only, Matter said, though football remains outdoors and soccer remains in St. Cloud next fall. The new Vikings stadium, slated to open in 2016, includes seven rent-free days for the league and could improve financial projections. The league also has a $2.4 million budget reserve it could decide to tap depending on how this year's tournaments fare.

"We like what the league is doing but if the reimbursements went away, we would regroup and make it work," Koberinski said.