The MSHSL is going to conduct a vote on October 1st regarding the upcoming 2020-2021 Minnesota High School Basketball season.  The MSHSL Board will be determining the length of the season, the scope of play (conference, post-season) and if spectators will be allowed to attend the games. 

While the prospect of having a season looks positive, of special concern is the potential of not allowing fans to attend games.  First, while this decision would obviously affect parents of all the athletes, it has a special impact for the parents and families who are playing their last year of high school basketball.   Second, there is a safety aspect to be considered, if a child is injured, the parent would not be present to provide support.  The thought of not being able to watch our children play in person is hard to fathom. 

Many players across Minnesota participated in AAU basketball this past summer at events here in Minneapolis and in other states.  In addition, many Minnesota high school teams have started participating in Breakdown pre-season scrimmages that are occurring in the same style as many of the summer tournaments. 

These events have implemented safety measures including mandatory masks, limited spectators and controlled entrance/exit into the facility all of which have contributed to allowing fans to safely attend games since early July.  These events typically have multiple games being played concurrently at one location whereas a high school game will be conducted at a single court involving just two teams. If these larger scale events have figured out how to allow spectators surely our member schools can do the same on a smaller scale.

While the MSHSL is to be applauded for trying to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19, the blueprint has not only been created but has been actively executed upon over the past several months on how to safely conduct basketball games with fans in attendance.  We strongly urge you to allow schools to implement these practices and allow a limited number of fans to see kids play the game they love.