Fox wants national title game
During June, stories published in
The Washington Post and The (Norfolk)
Virginian-Pilot reported that Fox Sports Net
contacted over 100 high schools nationwide about
staging a national title game starting in late
December of the year 2000.
(Press release found
here, copied locally here.)
Fox Sports News Primetime plans to debut a weekly
"Fox Fab Fifty" poll this fall. They were also
toying with the idea of paying $5,000 to each school
in the final poll, and $50,000 to the two schools that
play in the title game.
However, the National Federation of State High School
Associations has a bylaw that prohibits any kind of
contest to determine a single national champion for
any team or individual in a sport. The bylaws are not
binding (evident by the fact that they are conducting
35
NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS ® themselves),
but most of them are adhered to by the state
associations.
Therefore, Fox went directly to 106 schools - private
and public - first, in order to get the support of the
coaches, who could then pitch it to their individual
states. According to Fox's co-hort, Student Sports,
Inc., only two of the schools indicated they would not
sign (or had not already signed) the non-binding
letters-of-intent to participate in the game. Among
those who reportedly had already signed were Hampton
and DeMatha, a private school in Hyattsville, Md.
(Hampton coach Mike Smith likes the idea of a title
game, and said he hopes that his school wouldn't be
denied the opportunity to participate if invited.)
However, many of the states already have rules against
this.
Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic
Association executive director Ned Sparks said that
Maryland has rules against national championship games.
Virginia High School League executive director Ken
Tilley said that it isn't permitted.
Also coming out against the game were the D.C.
Interscholastic Athletic Association, the Ohio High
School Athletic Association, and the Florida High
School Activities Association. Officials in Ohio &
Texas don't expect their states to back the concept,
either, although Six schools from football-frenzied
Texas signed the agreement.
Look for more on this after the NFHS convention in
July.
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