Changes to prep playoff formats OK’d

Adam Candee

Thursday, March 13, 2003 | 10:02 a.m.

Getting down to the Final Four in early March? Yes, at least for the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.

The NIAA Board of Control, at its Wednesday meeting at Sierra Vista High School, unanimously approved its anticipated change from an eight-team state playoff format in major sports to a four-team one, a move motivated by the Nevada budget crisis. State qualifiers in individual tournaments, including swimming and track, will be reduced from 15 to eight.

Larry McKay, Clark County School District athletics director, estimates the changes will save the district between $150,000 and $200,000 in travel costs for the upcoming year. The CCSD athletics budget of $6.3 million is almost certain to be cut, McKay said, and severe funding losses could end travel altogether next year.

"We can look at no travel and we may be forced to go this direction," McKay said. "What we do (Wednesday) may not make any difference."

In the four-team setup, tournaments in Reno will feature two Northern teams and two Southern teams. When the state playoffs are held in Las Vegas, three Southern teams and one Northern team will qualify. Football is likely to remain in its current four-team playoff setup, although that is also open to debate.

The four-team basketball tournament is seen by CCSD and NIAA officials as a compromise with coaches. Administrators originally proposed only a North vs. South title game, minus playoffs, in every sport, while coaches lobbied for keeping the status quo.

In another notable change, the board approved an alternating year, North-South state playoff site rotation for every sport. That takes effect next year for every sport except basketball. The 1A-4A State Tournament will be in Reno for the 15th consecutive year.

NIAA director Dr. Jerry Hughes said the NIAA's attempt to make the state basketball tournament into the premier prep event in Nevada by attracting radio and TV coverage, as well as scheduling athletics directors meetings in Reno to coincide with the tournament, failed over time.

"This year, our state basketball tournament was terrible," Hughes said. "That one event convinced me that we should (put the tournament on site rotation.)

The all-Southern boys' and girls' semifinals and championships destroyed attendance, and the event may lose as much as $10,000 this year.

Hughes lamented that Northern fans usually do not turn out to watch Southern teams, and vice versa.

"Nevada is so different than any other state I know of in terms of how they attend events," he said.

The tournament will move to Las Vegas in 2005, when its site rotation will begin. Site possibilities include the Thomas & Mack Center, Cox Pavilion and various high school locations.