Page 15 - 2020 IHSAA Annual Report

2019–20: The Year in Review

The IHSAA’s 117th

year started out like

any other.

As is customary at the beginning of every school year, new high
school athletic directors were invited to a workshop hosted by
the IHSAA; the Student Advisory Committee met at Bradford
Woods in Martinsville for its annual retreat; and the executive
staff processed a flurry of eligibility requests.

The MTI School of Knowledge and Purdue Polytechnic High
School, both located in Indianapolis, and Steel City Academy
in Gary were approved for a four-year provisional membership
in the IHSAA, and Lighthouse Christian Academy in
Bloomington was welcomed as a full-fledged member.

At the Executive Board meeting in August, it was noted that
attendance at state tournament events generally seemed to be
trending upward. While revenue for all boys sports in 2018-19
was down 2%, it was up by 7% for girls sports, and once again
the IHSAA was able to return more tournament revenue to
schools than it retained to run the Association.

Positive news regarding tournament attendance continued
during the fall and winter as girls golf, girls soccer, volleyball,
girls basketball, both boys and girls swimming and diving, and
wrestling all attracted more fans than in the previous year. Best
of all, 21,801 more people attended the IHSAA State Football
Tournament in November. That’s an impressive 8.5% increase
in just one year!!

FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT ATTENDANCE COMPARISON

2018 ATTENDANCE 257,260

2019 ATTENDANCE 279,061

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