TSSAA basketball state tournament revenue down $226.6K from budget

Significantly reduced crowds at the TSSAA boys and girls basketball state tournaments because of COVID-19 concerns took a hard hit in Tennessee's statewide high school athletic association budget.

TSSAA netted $523,357.44 for its 2020-21 basketball tournament series, which includes invitationals, district tournaments, region tournaments, sectionals and state tournaments. That's down $226,642.56 from the $750,000 it had budgeted.

TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress said when he released the 2020-21 budget in August that the high school association was banking on things being back to normal by the basketball postseason.

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However, crowds were limited throughout the postseason, and the Division I state tournaments were limited to just 1,000 people per session with each day having three sessions until the championship round. Each championship game was permitted 1,000 people.

The TSSAA netted $115,977.59 from the Division I girls basketball state tournament and $125,422.44 from the boys tournament. Childress said typically those two tournaments bring in $200,000-$250,000 each. 

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The low number for basketball came after receiving surprising news in March for its football financial report.

The TSSAA budgeted just $300,000 for football last year. However, the TSSAA received $624,646 through the semifinals before paying $312,323 for catastrophic insurance and $165,617.14 for officials before netting the rest. That was down from $699,999 in 2019.

The TSSAA also received $131,916.92 from the football championship games after expenses and distributing participating schools their shares.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.