NJSIAA’s financial health, changes to boys golf, highlight Exec. Committee meeting

The Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) had its monthly meeting in Robbinsville on Wednesday. The meeting covered various topics including the annual audit of the organization’s finances, changes to girls wrestling regulations, and boys golf postseason play.

Despite a $1 million increase in expenses compared to last year, the NJSIAA reported a net asset increase of $300,000 after conducting an independent audit. This increase can be attributed to inflation’s impact on tournament staffing, security, and facility rentals.

Revenues also increased from $5.1 million to $5.8 million this year, and there could be a possible increase in state ticket prices according to NJSIAA executive director Colleen Maguire. This increase is made possible by a new law that allows the NJSIAA to raise ticket prices at postseason events.

The increased revenue and the passage of the new law will result in more “fair and equitable” ticket prices for postseason events. Instead of hosting section finals and state semifinals at school sites, the events will now take place at college campuses or professional venues like MetLife, which can also host state championships.

General counsel Steve Goodell stated that the potential increase in ticket prices would be based on the actual cost of running the events, ensuring fair rates.

The NJSIAA is pleased with the financial improvement, which represents a significant increase compared to pre-COVID times. Maguire mentioned that these financial gains were possible due to ticket revenues bouncing back from the COVID pandemic and increased corporate sponsorships.

In boys golf, a new program called the IWanamaker Scoring System will be implemented as a one-year pilot initiative. This system aims to revamp the qualification processes for both team and individual tournaments. It takes into account course difficulty, better tracks individual performances, and allows more teams and golfers to qualify for the tournaments. The goal is to make the boys golf tournament more competitive and increase participation numbers.

Regarding girls wrestling, clarifications were made on participation limits. Girls are allowed to compete in multiple events against more than one opponent in a week, unlike boys. The NJSIAA encourages girls to wrestle as much as possible and has fixed the wording to highlight this allowance.

The Executive Committee also passed an updated policy regarding the use of collectives as a recruitment or transfer enticement at the high school level. The policy prohibits collectives from offering NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) benefits to attract athletes. Additionally, changes were made to the bylaws to include eighth graders in the prohibition of inducements for transfer purposes.

Finally, the NJSIAA clarified the eligibility rules for transferring students. A transfer student becomes eligible to participate for their new school when they are officially enrolled and have either withdrawn from their previous school or when the school year has concluded. The intention is to prevent promises of playing time or financial aid from influencing transfer decisions.

The NJSIAA will have a second reading next month to officially enact the updated policies and bylaws.

For any inquiries, please contact Jake Aferiat at [email protected].

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