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K They PIAA has a serious problem with the classification of private schools,if this problem isn't solved soon, the PIAA will eventually go broke.  The Philadelphia schools are dominating  Eastern Lower  classifications. Compounding the problem are  Schools like Kennedy Christian and charter schools creating football factories .  Most of the private schools do not have a large  fan following which will seriously impact the income for the PIAA.  Let's have some serious discussions and proposals  on how to solve the classification problem . Following are a couple of suggestions:

1.  Apply the same rules to private schools  that currently apply to Public Schools.  Require the private schools to include to the  enrollment of each players home school district.

2.  All private schools  are classified the same as the  Public school where they are located .
  Example Bishop Carrroll would be classified the same as Central Cambria .

This is somewhat related, as far as money making goes.  State championship attendance continues to decrease.  The common excuse is to blame Private and Charter schools. And that's fair.  I personally blame charter schools more, since they literally don't have a fan base.  I think Catholic schools typically have fairly solid followings.

A way to combat that issue?

I think if they rotate the state championships, they will be attended better.

Where does everyone live in this state?  Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Where are the state championships?  Hershey.


Alternate between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  One year at The Palestra, one year at The Pete.  Did anyone catch the attendance for the Philadelphia Catholic League finals last week?  There were 9,000 people there to watch Neumann-Goretti and Archbishop Wood. That's more than any single state championship game in Hershey....by far.

They need to move the state championships where the people are.  While Hershey isn't a horrible location, it's a nice venue and easy to get to, it's doing nothing to get a walk-up crowd.  The only people there are the fans of the 2 teams playing.   If you put it in Philly, you are going to get additional people genuinely interested in the game, far more likely than Hershey.  The crowds would be like the ones we saw last week for a City Championship.  

If teams like Neumann-Goretti and Imhotep Charter were playing at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh in 2 weeks?  I'd be there in a heartbeat.   Hershey?  Well, they're on TV.


Same thing goes for football.  Hershey in itself isn't bad. The stadium isn't very nice. It would be cool to say one year at Heinz and one year at the Linc. 

3 pointer I agree with you totally. I have been saying that either one of those 2 solutions would be acceptable. I also agree with Crimson that the attendance problems is not all on the privates. The venue and location does have a huge effect on the attendance. I think the biggest problem is the fact that the games are on TV. I have been to the games and went every year for about 10 years straight, but got tired of seeing the games being dominated by the privates so I quit going. I'm only one person so others will have different views.

I'll disagree with the location and put more of the blame on the admission of philly public and private aka district 12. I also went to Hershey consistently and the BJC a few years. Check out the attendance in Hershey in the pre-philly years vs now.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/2016 ... 1604290037

The BJC was a really bad location IMO, Hershey is a step up from that. Still think they'd do better in bigger metropolitan areas, whether Philadelphia is in it or not. Common fans without a dog in the fight will be more likely to attend if it's nearby.

 I have been going to Hershey with a group since the mid-1980s  we decided last year we were not going anymore.  I  agree most of the Catholic schools are not the problem but  A few are. Kennedy Christian in particular I thought when they went to six classifications   Kennedy   Christian  would move up   But them playing in single  A  is a joke .  Nobody including Monessen  has a chance to beat them  and they don't have a big fan base. 

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Below is a state by state breakdown of what is being done.  State's not included either have no significant classifications issues or no special rules at the current time.   the most popular types of systems being used to "level the playing field" are multipliers and success based promotion.  Multipliers are when they take private or non-boundary schools enrollments and multiply them by the set number to generally put them in a classification above where they would be if the multiplier was not in effect.  the success based promotion example would be where teams in a particular sport with continuous success over anywhere from 3-5 years (example locally would be BG football) would be bumped up in classification.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Alabama: The first state to adopt a multiplier (1999). A 1.35 multiplier is applied to all private school enrollments. The state association settled on 1.35 due to date that indicated athletic participation in private schools is 35 percent higher than at public schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Arkansas: Non-public schools with 80 or more students in grades 10-12 are moved up one classification. A multiplier was used in the past, leading to a court battle. The state association was sued by a school that was moved up two classifications and won three football games with a roster of 25 players. The court ruled that the multiplier was not unconstitutional.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Colorado: Competitive balance is an ongoing debate. A private school success advancement system was voted down in 2013.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Connecticut: A 2.0 multiplier is applied to basketball only. Also, a point system based on tournament success is used to further adjust enrollment.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Florida: Has separation of private and public schools in select sports among small schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Georgia: Ended a 1.5 multiplier formula for private schools in 2008 after eight years. Data showed that the multiplier did not impact the percentage of private schools winning state titles. Separation of private and public schools in the state's small-school division was approved in 2012.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Hawaii: Each island sets rules for reaching state tournaments. Most have publics and privates compete with each other.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Illinois: A 1.65 multiplier is applied to private and non-boundaried schools in all sports. The state association was sued by 37 schools in 2005, leading to a settlement requiring that the multiplier go to a vote of member schools. It passed. A success advancement system was later added to alter division placement based on a team's recent postseason success. Schools may petition to move up a classification.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Indiana: A success advancement system is used, requiring that teams in all sports to move up a classification based on postseason performance.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Kansas: Proposals have been made to separate public and private schools, or move private schools into higher classifications.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Louisiana: There has been talk in recent years of private schools forming their own association.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Maine: The state association is on record as opposing separation of public and private schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Maryland: Separate tournaments and state associations for public and private schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Minnesota: A reverse multiplier is used to reduce enrollment in some schools. The formula is based on the number of students in a school activity program and the number registered for free or reduced lunch.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Mississippi: The state association has 13 private schools. A group of school administrators failed to ban private schools from joining the state association in 2013. Other privates compete in an independent state association that also features schools from Arkansas and Louisiana.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Missouri: A 1.35 multiplier is applied to private schools in all sports. An additional 2.0 multiplier is applied to single-sex schools. A court ruled that the multipliers were not unconstitutional.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Nebraska: Multiplier and other enrollment adjustment proposals have been defeated.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Nevada: A point system, based on recent success, is used to move teams up or down a division every two years.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]New Jersey: There are multiple classifications and tournaments for public and non-public schools. Some sports bring multiple state champions together to create a Tournament of Champions.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]New York: There are multiple athletic associations, one of which is affiliated with the National Federation of High Schools. It slots non-public schools into divisions based on past success, enrollment and level of competition.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]North Carolina: The state association does not allow non-boarding parochial schools to provide financial aid to athletes. There are also separate associations for independent and Christian schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Ohio: A competitive balance referendum is up for vote by state principals for the fourth consecutive year. The current plan includes sports-specific multipliers for football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and soccer.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Oklahoma: A state association committee is exploring reclassification in all sports.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Oregon: The state association rejected a multiplier proposal in 2012.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Pennsylvania: Competitive balance remains an ongoing issue. Prior to 1972, parochial schools competed in a separate association. The state government stopped a proposed return to split associations in 2000.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]South Carolina: There is an independent school state association, but privates and publics also compete together in a separate association.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Tennessee: Schools are split into two divisions: Division I for publics and privates that don't provide financial aid, and Division II for privates that offer financial aid. A 1.8 multiplier is applied to privates in Division I.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Texas: There are separate associations for public and private schools, but the public association is exploring the idea of including private schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Virginia: There are separate tournaments and state associations for public and private schools.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Wisconsin: Separation of public and private schools ended in the 1990s. The state association created a committee in 2014 to examine competitive balance after a multiplier formula was proposed.[/font]

The simplest solution would be for the students to compete for their home district just like the Vo-Techs and Career and Technology Centers!  We all know that kids aren't attending private schools for the athletics anyway!

Nice job on predictions !!!  If you are wrong on the saltsburg game all private schools beat The public schools does this not  look like a trend

Absolutely agree on the charter school comment. There is no history or alumni. It's an extension of AAU into the prep ranks. The only people really into those teams are the parents and it's for watching their kids.

I get Hershey as a central location, however, the rotation and sites you suggest CG is intriguing.

What about the War Memorial? With their Hockeyville improvements in lighting and scoreboard and the new basketball floor they added some years back it could be a good capacity, at least for the small schools. I know in the past the City put bids in for the states for football and the Point but I actually think that's a more viable opportunity.