I believed that the Ohsaa and the District would have sent me my information weeks ago, not lost my contact info and sent me info last night. Nowhere in their communication did it say how many athletes I could bring, so I figured I would reach out to this site. Im also trying to figure out how Glen Oak can possibly close its campus and charge people. There is a community trail that goes straight through their campus. People can enter the course from tons of different areas. The good news is that my AD sent all this to my parents and they will deal with this on their own. Sad thing is that many of my parents will not be able to afford to see this meet. I wish they would have held off charging until Regionals. In 28 years of doing this, I have never seen a charge at Districts. Regardless what I read on tickets, I was hoping that Districts would somehow change their mind and not charge.
You've coached long enough that you probably already know this, but district level competition is run by the District Boards. If they charge admission at the district level and below, it goes to the District Board. Anything at the regional level and above is handled by the state, and the money goes to the state. Traditionally, the District Boards' primary source of revenue has been the sectional and district basketball games. The District Boards dodged a bullet last spring in that the basketball season was able to progress beyond the district finals. The state obviously wasn't as lucky. If the upcoming basketball season even makes it as far as the district, attendance restrictions will still be likely, so the District Boards know they're going to suffer a major hit to their finances. The only way to soften that blow is to create additional revenue any way they can. According to last year's financials for the NEDAB, XC wasn't pulling its weight (no reason to think it would if no admission is being charged):
Financial Reports for 2019 Fall Sports— District Tournaments—Deficit or Profit For The Following: B & G Golf, Girls Tennis, Cross Country, Volleyball and Boys & Girls Soccer. The Grand Totals for 2019 Fall Sports--Income and Expenses Showed The Following:
Income: Soccer & Volleyball---------------------------------------------------$246,124.96
Operational Expenses: Cross Country, Girls Tennis, B&G Golf------$(57,649.06)
Officials Expenses: Cross Country, B & G Soccer and Volleyball--$(129,272.00)
Net Profit----Fall Tournaments, 2019------------------$59,203.90