AHSAA continues to prepare for fall sports season despite concerns about COVID-19

The Alabama High School Athletic Association is trying to provide answers.

While the rest of the sporting world tailspins, hoping to turn the uncertain into an emergency landing — the Ivy League cancelling fall sports, the Big Ten moving to a conference-play only model, the NBA experimenting with the "bubble," and Stanford cutting 11 sports programs — the AHSAA is trying to prepare for the start of its fall sports in good faith.

This preparation, though it lacks definitive answers for questions that seem unanswerable amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has been met with both praise and concern by local athletic directors.

"My hat is off to them," said Terry Nicholas, athletic director at Elmore County. "They (AHSAA) are trying to come up with answers to questions that have have never been asked before with imperfect and incomplete information. Moving slow has been the right call, but I think there are still a lot of hard questions they have to answer."

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The AHSAA met with its coaches committee Tuesday and received health updates from AHSAA Medical Advisory Board and the Alabama State Department of Education.

The report was bleak and the road map to begin the season presents "challenges that still loom ahead," according to an AHSAA news release. That same day, Alabama surpassed 1,000 deaths due to the coronavirus.

“Our world would be in better shape," AHSAA executive director Steve Savarese said Tuesday, "concerning the recent increase in COVID cases if everyone followed the health and safety examples our coaches and administrators provide and practice daily.” 

Denise Ainsworth, AHSAA assistant director, told the Montgomery Advertiser that the association is dedicated to preparing its member schools for the 'what if' as best as it possibly can, or at least until it can make a decision on if the fall sports season will commence. That decision is expected to come on July 22.

"We are in a tough situation, as are superintendents and principals, and parents even, for that matter," Ainsworth said. "Whatever decision we make we're going to make 50% of the people happy, 50% of the people are going to be unhappy.

"We're doing what we think is best with the knowledge we have at the moment. We are trying to stay current with the knowledge and we are trying to do what's best for kids."

Until then, the AHSAA is providing its member schools with possible solutions to questions not yet answered.

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The association issued a memorandum addressed to athletic directors across the state, following the meeting, that suggested member schools utilize cashless and touchless means of ticket sales through GoFan. The AHSAA has used GoFan for the last five years for its championship events.

Now, the association is encouraging schools to institute this system to mitigate the handling of money and close contact between individuals. "COVID-19 has drastically altered how consumers pay and use technology. We highly recommend schools proactively prepare for these new fan expectations," the memorandum wrote. 

In addition to this method, the AHSAA is working with the NFHS Network to provide streaming services for schools to broadcast its games. 

The Network has allocated $200 million to high school associations nationwide, thus AHSAA member schools can sign up to receive two free Pixellot streaming units. 

“The NFHS Network is offering a remarkable opportunity for our schools that are currently without automated production capabilities,” Savarese said . “As our schools grapple with reduced resources and the potential loss of event-related revenue, the NFHS Network’s High School Support Program can help to reduce COVID-19’s impact. I encourage our eligible schools to sign up for their free Pixellot units immediately.” 

Nicholas and Elmore County say they are prepared institute both.

The streaming services are already in place around the stadium due to previously made preparations to livestream the school's graduation earlier this year, and GoFan is something he and his staff have been researching. "To the best of our ability, I think we are about as ready as we could be," Nicholas said.

For Daniel Veres, athletic director at Montgomery Catholic, it will require a little bit more elbow grease for the Knights to reach the same sentiment. 

Veres said Catholic will meet with Pixellot next week to discuss installation, but his greatest concern is whether or not the school has the "infrastructure" surrounding its football field to install the units. 

For schools to get the cameras, they still have to pay $2,500 for installation and sign a 5-year contract with Pixellot, Veres said. But for schools that will possibly face financial stress because of the threat the virus poses to fan attendance, concession sales and other revenue.

More:River Region players, coaches react to AHSAA canceling summer competition

The Knights have partnered with T WRBZ for the past three years for their  games to be broadcast on radio.

On the radio, Catholic sells ad space. Consequently, Veres is working on a plan to sync Pillexot's video-streaming units with the Praise FM broadcast and extend an opportunity to its sponsors to sell ads on the livestream as well to make up that loss. 

However, every school and every team does not have that luxury. 

"This is great to worry about ticketing and to worry about Pixellot," Veres said, "but if they tell us on the 22nd that 'you're not going to play,' it doesn't matter. ... Every time you turn on the news it's so negative and so bad. It's so scary that it starts scaring everybody to think 'I don't know if we should even let our kid go out there."

Irrespective of what the AHSAA decides, Ainsworth said the decision will come down to parents.

The focus remains on the well-being of children, she and Nicholas stressed, and they hope the final decision reflects the latter. But Nicholas is convinced more choices will have to be made.

"It's never going to be over," Nicholas said. "I think our world changed in March for good. ... We want to play. The kids want to play. Parents want to see the kids play. The cheerleaders want to cheer; the band wants to perform. Everybody wants something. But we have to do right by the kids. "

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Andre Toran at AToran@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndreToran.