This Week's Question: Is the Mpa Correct in Proposing to Shorten Sports Seasons?

Portland Press Herald › January 08, 2009

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Summary

RACHEL LENZI

Money. That's the driving force behind the MPA's proposal to limit the sports season and place restrictions on the number of playoff teams. Consider these economic times. Companies have cut their workforces. Families are eliminating frivolous expenses. Sacrifices are being made, including schools making tough decisions at the expense of school activities. While I'm not necessarily in favor of cutting holiday tournaments, restricting the number of playoff teams, however, would strengthen the tournament pool. For example, under the current format 24 of the 36 Class D girls' basketball teams qualify for the tournament. That's two-thirds of the state's Class D teams, when it's just as easy to limit it to eight from each region. Is it right to thin the competitiveness of the playoff pool? And if you're looking at this from a financial standpoint, it's not cost-efficient for school districts to pay for transportation and lodging.