Columnist Spencer Patterson: NIAA may cut size of state tourneys

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 10:14 a.m.

Spencer Patterson covers high school sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at spencer@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4085.

Three years after radically changing the way state champions are determined, Nevada's athletic administrators are considering doing so again, possibly as soon as next school year.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association is asking member high schools to review a proposal that would shave the size of its state tournaments significantly.

In most team sports, under the plan, one team (per class) from Southern Nevada would face one from Northern Nevada in a winner-take-all state event.

All other playoff rounds would take place within each of the state's three regions, with the Sunrise and Sunset champions squaring off for the right to represent Southern Nevada in the state championship.

The proposal, slated for a February vote by the NIAA's Board of Control, comes primarily as a way to reduce the Clark County School District's athletic department budget, largely in the area of travel expenses.

"We're looking at ways to save money, and I want to be proactive rather than reactive," CCSD Director of Athletics Larry McKay said. "Nobody is being eliminated from a chance to win the state championship. It just puts more of the focus on competing locally (in the playoffs).

"It comes down to being cost-effective. And if I can cut $200,000 or $300,000 from my budget that's a good thing."

In football, the state tournament would be reduced from four teams to two, and in basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball from eight teams to two.

The state basketball tournament would go from four days to two, with four state title games on Friday and four more on Saturday. Baseball and softball state champions would likely be determined in best-of-3 series.

"Of course change is difficult, and this is pretty radical, but there are some very exciting things about it," NIAA Executive Director Jerry Hughes said.

In 2000, Nevada went from being split into two "zones" (Northern and Southern) to its current three-region alignment (Northern, Sunrise, Sunset).

That change took place mainly because Southern Nevada is home to nearly twice as many high school as the state's northern half. Splitting Clark County into two regions gave all schools roughly an equal path to a state title.

But, McKay is quick to point out, economics today are not what they were when that plan went into effect.

"From a proportionality standpoint, what we do now makes sense," McKay said. "But sending six boys and girls basketball teams 500 miles to Reno and having four of them play each other in the first round in a game they could have played right here doesn't make sense from a monetary standpoint."

The proposed re-alignment would likely also impact individually-oriented sports such as track and golf by reducing the number of competitors at state events.

"I think it has some merit, but it needs to be tweaked," McKay said. "There's still a lot of work to be done on this."

Sam Boyd has been tentatively scheduled as the site for the Dec. 7 game since February. But according to Hughes, the NIAA is unprepared to meet the contract demands made thus far.

"They've sent us a boilerplate kind of a contract which is not acceptable for us," Hughes said. "We feel (the cost of) Sam Boyd and Nevada-Reno's Mackay Stadium should be similar. They've asked us to put something in writing that we think would be more appropriate.

"We're hopeful it will work out."

Should Sam Boyd fall through, a local high school will host the 4A title game.