The Associated Press

Some facts involving the Ohio High School Athletic Association:<!—->.

Friday, March 23, 2001

Some facts involving the Ohio High School Athletic Association:

-Membership stands at 819 schools, 85 percent of which are public.

-Participation in high school sports is at an all-time high – 6 million students nationwide, including about 225,000 in Ohio.

-OHSAA revenue in the 1998-99 school year, the last full year for complete Internal Revenue Service records, was $13 million. This outpaced associations in Pennsylvania ($7.3 million), Michigan ($5.9 million), Illinois ($4.9 million) and Indiana ($3.8 million).

-Spectators bought more than 1.4 million tickets to regional and state tournaments in the 1999-2000 school year. The 17 tournaments netted an overall surplus of $3.2 million.

-Tournament ticket sales of $13.8 million in 1999-2000 accounted for 92 percent of the association’s income. The rest came from a variety of sources, including officials’ dues, ball contracts, television and radio royalties, a corporate sponsor, T-shirt sales and interest.

-In 10 years, money collected from high-school sports tournaments in Ohio has tripled to $15 million.

-The Ohio high school football tournament starts with 192 teams and crowns six state champions. In 1999, the association netted $1.9 million from the football tournament alone.

-Four years ago, the association eliminated dues for its member schools – a move only a few other states have taken. To join the OHSAA, high schools previously paid $15 per sport and junior highs paid $10 per sport.

-The association had accumulated so much money that four years ago, it used $400,000 to create a private foundation to distribute college scholarships. Last year, the OHSAA Foundation gave students $12,000 in scholarships, in addition to the association’s $85,000.

-The OHSAA spends much of its money – $3.8 million last academic year – on reimbursing schools for some tournament expenses, including mileage, meals and lodging.

-The association carries a $25,000 insurance policy on every athlete for catastrophic injury.

-The group and its 20 employees are housed in a 37-year-old, 11,400-square-foot building in Columbus.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch