OPINION —
The Alabama High School Athletic Department held its quarterly Central Board of Control Meeting last week in Montgomery. There were several significant decisions approved by the board, including that the AHSAA will return a record $2.25 million to member schools as a part of the revenue sharing program set up in 2009 to 2010. The total amount of money returned to member schools is $23,450,000 over 14 years. The board waived membership dues totaling over $85,000 (annually) for the 32nd year in a row. This has resulted in member schools saving approximately $2.25 million since being implemented 14 years ago.
The Central Board voted to sanction girls flag football and wrestling starting in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 classification period. Seventy-six schools declared the sport of wrestling for the upcoming season while 89 schools are playing flag football.
There will be two classifications in both sports, Class 1A through 5A and Class 6A and 7A. Two flag football tournament championship games will be played during this year’s Super 7 Championship at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Dec. 6.
The AHSAA increased the sanctioned sports to 13 for females compared to 12 sports for males. In other news, Executive Director Alvin Briggs will form a bylaw task force to help the AHSAA move forward as they continue to grow.
Briggs led off “FOX Sports the Game 910-1310’s High School Media Days” presented by the Orthopaedic Clinic, last Tuesday. Briggs made his sixth straight appearance to our media days, the last three as executive director.
Briggs started by thanking all the schools, media representatives, iHeartRadio, the Orthopaedic Clinic and the Bottling Plant Event Center, where Media Days was held last week. He began by discussing the upcoming season and a few rule changes in football.
The first rule change of note: If the offensive player holds behind the line of scrimmage, the penalty will be accessed from the line of scrimmage instead of the spot of the foul. Teams may chose to decline the penalty because of this change.
Other rule changes included that unnecessary or excessive contact to a defenseless player now includes a receiver. This means the receiver who is forcefully contacted by an opponent who is not (1) incidentally making contact, (2) initiating the hit with open hands or (3) attempting to tackle by wrapping arm(s) around the receiver, will be flagged. If a player is flagged for hitting a defenseless player, it is a 15-yard penalty.
FOX SPORTS THE GAME HIGH SCHOOL MEDIA DAYS PRESENTED BY ORTHOPAEDIC CLINIC
Last Tuesday and Wednesday, iHeartRadio’s FOX Sports the Game (910-1310) and presenting sponsor, the Orthopaedic Clinic, hosted the sixth annual High School Media at the Bottling Plant Event Center. A record 22 high school football teams were represented by the teams’ head coaches and several players. Briggs and AISA Athletic Director Roddie Beck spoke about their athletic associations and the upcoming athletic year.
In the coming weeks, I will go over tidbits from each school.
AISA NEWS
I have learned that four AISA schools may apply for membership to the AHSAA. No official word from the AHSAA or the schools but a person with knowledge of this information, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said some of the schools have submitted paperwork requesting to join or are preparing the paperwork to submit. The four AISA schools want to be a part of the AHSAA in 2024-25, which allows the schools to play in the new classifications issued after fall sports. Stay tuned for more information.
DBB WORLD SERIES ATTENDANCE
The Dixie Junior Boys World Series took in over $11,000 at the gate over the five days. This does not include teams, coaches and immediate family members, guests, DBB officials, umpires or workers. West Ridge park was visited by more than 1,000 people from out of state and several hundred from Alabama. D. Mark Mitchell is the sports director at iHeartMedia, host of “On the Mark” Fox Sports the Game 910-1319, co-chair of the Auburn-Opelika Sports Council, chairman of the Super 7 and Dixie Boys Baseball state director.