Teams to learn fate on athletic budget cuts

High school athletics around the state are in a dilemma.

Facing severe budget cuts due to a struggling economy, the Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors will meet Monday in Gainesville to vote on whether to cut the number of games in a season to reduce expenses.

The proposal is to shorten a 25-game season to 20 games for all sports except football and cut junior varsity contests, including football, by 40 percent.

With 16 members on the board, nine majority votes will determine the outcome.

"The whole purpose of this is to help our schools get out of this crisis that we're in with the economy," FHSAA spokesperson Cristina Alvarez said.

A shortened season, however, may be the least of an athletic department's problem. Anticipating millions of dollars lost in mandatory cutbacks, school districts across the state may have to work with a smaller athletic budget. Hillsborough County athletic director Lanness Robinson said he's been preparing a plan to save the department money, which could include making athletes pay fees to play.

The Pasco County school district requires athletes to pay a participation fee, $60 for the first sport and $40 for the second. There is no fee for any additional sports.

During the 2006-07 school year, Pasco County received $367,644.50 in participation fees from the county's 22 high schools and middle schools to use for the county's athletic insurance policy.

"Regardless (of the FHSAA's vote), we'll be looking at the athletic budget," Robinson said.

"This budget crunch is probably the worst I've ever seen, and I've been in Pasco County for 24 years," Pasco County Superintendant Heather Fiorentino said.

However, shortening seasons could result in teams having to miss national and in-state tournaments.

"There are a lot of tournaments in the state of Florida that have run for 25, 35 and 40 years that are in jeopardy that will hurt the communities," Sarasota High athletic director Clyde Metcalf said.

Riverview softball coach Angela Slater has organized the Jon Sinclair Memorial Spring Fling softball tournament the last three years, making it the longest running softball tournament in Hillsborough County. If programs are to cut five games from their schedules, Slater is afraid the tournament will lose its luster, as some of the top programs could choose to play in out-of-county tournaments that draw some of the top teams in the state.

"It's important you see other opponents," she said.

In just two years, the McDonald's Tampa Hoops Classic has become one of the premier high school basketball tournaments in the southeast. In December, eight Florida teams were invited, each scheduled for four games. Last year, the nationally-ranked Plant volleyball team played in two national volleyball tournaments, the Nike Challenge in Chicago and in the Berkeley Premier in Tampa. Plant played five matches in Chicago and five matches at the Premier.

Depending on the size of the district, teams may also be limited to playing a district opponent once during the regular season.

Although presented as a short-term solution, the proposal has already caused scheduling conflicts. Robinson said the schedules for the 2009-2010 school year are typically complete by the spring. Instead, that process has been delayed until the FHSAA board can make its vote.

"We don't want to make anything final until their decision," Robinson said. "It's extremely late to wait to do schedules. It takes at least five weeks to get them done."