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And the relationship between the city, university and WIAA remains solid, said the man who calls the shots for the state’s high school athletics governing body, Doug Chickering.
Chickering said Saturday the WIAA intends to let an automatic contract extension kick in during October, keeping the meet in La Crosse through 2009.
“We’ve got a loyalty to this community,” Chickering said. “Just look at the ties that we have. Our information director (Todd Clark) lived and worked here (at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) for nine years. Our meet director graduated from here. My daughter graduated from here. You can read between the lines.”
Larry Terry, the meet’s on-site coordinator, also said the WIAA wants to stay at UW-L. “They (WIAA) do not want to move this meet. On the other hand, we can’t become complacent either,” Terry said.
Chickering said the meet, which this year had 366 schools and 2,990 athletes, has lost money each of its years at UW-L.
Despite setting a two-day attendance record of 17,435 — 720 more than last year — and setting a new benchmark for the eighth consecutive year, Chickering said this year’s event will likely lose about $117,000. It lost $121,668 in 2005, $124,191 in 2004.
It’s an expensive meet. The WIAA pays a per diem per athlete for meals, and each school is reimbursed for some transportation costs. With 70 percent of member schools having at least one athlete at the meet, it’s the fifth-most expensive meet of all WIAA state tournaments.
Ticket sales are the biggest source of revenue: $101,601 was generated in 2005, $97,963 in 2004. An extra session the first day this year will mean a revenue increase this year.
And, if a proposed new stadium is built, attendance and revenue should both increase.
But money isn’t the driving factor, Chickering said.
“We’re not doing this (state track meet) to be on the positive side of the ledger,” Chickering said. “Just because we have record-setting crowds every year doesn’t mean we are lining our pockets in Stevens Point (site of the WIAA headquarters). We are hosting these state tournaments to provide a total experience for the athletes.”
According to the 2005 WIAA Annual Yearbook, the boys and girls state basketball tournaments, the individual state wrestling tournament, the football, hockey, volleyball and soccer tournaments are revenue producers for the WIAA, allowing it to hold other state tournaments — baseball, track, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, cross country, softball and golf — that lose money.
Chickering said the WIAA hasn’t been coy in not committing to stay at UW-L.
“On Oct. 1, it (the contract with UW-L) rolls over for an additional year. ... It was never our intent to change anything regarding that,” he said. “We are just asking that people respect what we bring to this community, appreciate all the volunteers that make this happen, and don’t take us for granted.”
