•••

Most high school athletic conferences in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana are run by member schools and the leadership is rotated among officials from those schools every few years. The leadership role is usually filled by a principal, athletic director, or in some cases, a superintendent. Even assuming these people are suited for the role, because these people have so many other duties on their plates, conference matters do not always get the attention they require. This makes it hard to establish stability in leadership.

In Ohio, however, many high school conferences have a part-time commissioner who oversees the assigning of officials, naming of all-conference teams, interacting with the media, arbitrating disputes that come up during the season, and handling membership matters such expansion and schools leaving. Creating this position allows a conference to empower someone to watch over conference business and make it his or her primary focus. It also removes any possible conflict of interest that might occur when a school administrator is that main source.

Communication between member schools is the key to having a solid conference. Quarterly meetings are recommended, and many conferences have had success holding an executive membership meeting once a month. We suggest a meeting at the start and end of the school year to evaluate what happened during the year and possible changes and adjustments that might be helpful in the future. Having regular meetings will help in eliminating unexpected surprises from the membership.

How do you fund your athletic conference? Through membership dues, or do member schools share expenses? One idea is to bring in corporate financing.

A good example of how high schools sports can generate money is local broadcasts (unfortunately little of this money flows to the schools). We understand not all schools get regular coverage, but many do and the stations that do usually turn a profit on them. Most broadcast sponsors like to support the local teams and you might be surprised how much they'll pay to be involved.

Television and radio media outlets can be approached about using some of those advertising dollars to help sponsor your conference. Larger corporations, who do not sponsor local games on radio, might also be willing to help their local high school conference.

There are many ways to create revenue and one very simple way is to sell sponsorship to your championship events and naming rights for trophies and awards. For example, putting a company's name on a trophy given out to all-conference players could bring in a significant amount of income.

Working with the media is an essential way to keep your conference relevant. But it's important to take a few steps to make sure you're getting the most out of these relationships. Make sure you have local newspaper, radio, and TV contact information (especially e-mails) for all conference related press releases. And in turn, you should provide these outlets with detailed information for coaches and athletic directors at your member schools. This allows you to update each outlet at the same time, and gives the media an easy way to contact your members when considering a story on them.

However, don't just send out anything and everything. Media folks get plenty of releases during the day and the more you send could cause them to overlook the important ones. Empowering conference commissioners as the only outgoing information source is a great way to streamline your message. Another idea is to hire an intern from a nearby college or university majoring in sports information to work as a media relations liaison.

Increased media exposure benefits schools and the conference and is a great way to keep communities informed about high school athletic happenings in their area. However, most schools and conferences rely way too much on traditional media outlets to do this.

Sure radio and newspapers do a great job, but the version of a story they present may not always be the message you and your members want portrayed. This is where an effective Web site can help out. Does your conference have a Web site, and if so are you getting the most out of it? Many successful conferences have quality sites that are professionally maintained and updated with game stories and team profiles on a regular basis--and without too much time or money invested. You might be surprised how affordable this can be, especially if corporate sponsorships are recruited to help cover the costs.

Here is one such site operated by the Western Buckeye League in Ohio www.wblsports.com.

A smoothly running conference will benefit all of its members. A little thought and work upfront can yield great dividends and make life easier for administrators who will have more time to focus on their own programs.

Dave Schmidt is a consultant and owner of THE SENIOR REPORTS. He has worked with high school and college conferences on ways to improve their operations. He was a founder and the first commissioner of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. Contact him at: www.theseniorreports.com.