The Front Row with MARK NELKE June 30, 2011

The Boise area already hosts many of Idaho's high school state tournaments.

Apparently, that's not enough.

Athletic directors from the 5A Southern Idaho Conference schools have proposed to the Idaho High School Activities Association that state 5A tournaments in all sports be held in the Boise area during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years on a trial basis - a move that could become permanent if successful.

As you might imagine, the North Idaho schools aren't exactly thrilled about this proposal.

"Absolute nonsense," Lake City athletic director Jim Winger said. "Our community and other communities need that opportunity to host; it's an economic boost to them. (Under this proposal) we would travel all the time, and parents and boosters would travel all the time. The formula they have for reimbursement will hardly cover anything. I just hope we can fight it and stop it because it's not fair and right for the kids and community."

Under the current classification alignments, five of the eight schools that qualify for state in 5A are from the Boise area - so why should the majority of the teams have to travel, they argue.

"I can understand where they're coming from, but there's a lot of things I disagree with," Coeur d'Alene High athletic director Todd Gilkey said. "As a Coeur d'Alene High School AD, I have some real concerns about this proposal - mainly the loss of class time, and the cost of going to Boise all the time."

The proposal is on the discussion agenda for the IHSAA board meeting in August. The board could approve the proposal as early as December. Gilkey becomes an IHSAA board member by then, but he will have just one vote on a panel of 13 board members. And with Gilkey on the board, it's up to the other North Idaho administrators to fight the proposal.

“We’ve already wrote a letter to the board of control,” Post Falls athletic director Craig Christensen said. “It’s going to come down to the board stepping in and doing the right thing.”

RIGHT NOW, the Boise area plays host to state tournaments in boys basketball, girls basketball, tennis and track and field every year. Boise is part of the rotation for state in boys and girls soccer and cross country, and this year hosted state golf for the first time in many years.

Every three years the state wrestling tournament is held at the Idaho Center in Nampa (Holt Arena in Pocatello hosts wrestling two out of every three years).

State softball rotates between North Idaho, the Twin Falls area and eastern Idaho — with North Idaho hosting the state 5A tournament every other year. North Idaho also gets to host state volleyball every other year, with the Twin Falls area and eastern Idaho divvying up the alternating years. State volleyball was last held in the Boise area in 1993.

(The state baseball tournaments are not sponsored by the IHSAA, but are also held in the Boise area.)

The tournaments that currently rotate throughout the state would continue to do so, at least at the 4A level and below.

The 5A SIC administrators are proposing the state boys and girls soccer be held at Eagle, Meridian and Rocky Mountain high schools; cross country at Eagle Island State Park outside Boise, volleyball at Boise State’s Taco Bell Arena, or Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa; softball at Boise State’s field, and golf at various courses in the Treasure Valley.

Here’s the proposed travel reimbursement plan by the SIC for teams traveling to the Boise area for state tournaments:

Each of the eight schools that qualify for state (including the five Boise-area schools) would kick in $1,500 for a total pool of $12,000. The three schools that travel (two from North Idaho and one from eastern Idaho) would be reimbursed $2,000 each, plus mileage. Using the 2010 state boys basketball tournament for an example, Lake City and Post Falls would have each received $4,142, and Madison of Rexburg would have received $3,716.

The five Boise-area schools would receive no reimbursement. There are also reimbursement plans for schools which send individuals to state, like golf, tennis, track and field, wrestling and cross country.

“If every sport has to go to Boise, it’s going to cost us more money in the long run,” said Gilkey, noting that the “profit” a North Idaho team would make in the above example would only cover about two-thirds of a charter. “You’re looking at a $7,000, $8,000 bill just to send each team to Boise. And any time you go to Boise, you miss two or three days of school.”

“There needs to be a total reimbursement,” said Winger, who is also Lake City’s boys basketball coach. “I would think even the Boise kids would like to travel every now and then and see the rest of the state.”

The 5A SIC polled athletic directors, principals and superintendents statewide. Of those who responded, naturally all of the Boise-area schools were in favor of having all the state tournaments in the Boise area. Of the other 5A schools who responded, only Highland (of Pocatello) was in favor of having all the state tournaments in Boise. Idaho Falls and Skyline of Idaho Falls voted against it, as did all the North schools who responded.

North Idaho schools get the chance to save money by hosting state volleyball every other year, and state softball every other year. They get to sleep in their own beds, and miss less school than when they travel. Under this proposal, North Idaho (and eastern Idaho) athletes would travel for every state tournament — and their parents and fans would have to pay to travel as well.

“I think it’s important for the North to showcase what we have, too — our schools and our communities,” Christensen said. “If everything’s in Boise, there are some kids in our schools who would never ever see a state tournament.”

Hopefully the IHSAA board of control eventually sees it the same way as the North Idaho schools do.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected].