APEX — The North Carolina High School Athletic Association shared updates on potential new sports last week.
In the NCHSAA Region 3 meeting, the last of eight regional meetings spread over two weeks, at Hope Community Church on Sept. 25, Commissioner Que Tucker revealed that a committee had been formed to study and examine the possibility of girls’ flag football as a sanctioned sport.
Tucker said the committee has already met and will send out surveys to member schools. The committee has been tasked with looking at the “big picture” regarding the timing of the season, the number of games, officials, ticket prices, playoffs and state championships.
“They will have something for the (Board of Directors) to approve at least by next spring,” Tucker said.
At the winter NCHSAA Board of Directors meeting in December, the Board tabled a discussion to sanction girls’ flag football, citing how the participation data reported by the schools did not match the date reported from other sources.
Last week, Tucker said the NCHSAA is “probably pretty close” to having the number of participating schools necessary to sanction the sport.
The NCHSAA requires that 25% of the total number of member schools participate in a sport before it’s sanctioned. Last year, HighSchoolOT reported that girls’ flag football met the threshold with 116 teams, and more schools have added programs this season with funds and equipment provided by the Carolina Panthers.
Tucker also mentioned that it “won’t be long” until the Board forms a committee for boys’ volleyball. The NC Boys High School Volleyball league lists 116 participating NCHSAA member schools on its website.
“Boys’ volleyball is gaining momentum,” Tucker said.
Updates about the upcoming fall state championships were also shared at the meeting.
According to Tucker, the NCHSAA “hopes” to announce the venues for the fall state championships by the end of this week or the beginning of the second full week of October.
“We perhaps could announce them for all sports, but for sure all fall sports,” Tucker said. “We’re zeroing in on football. That has been a little bit of an issue.”
At the Region 6 meeting in Concord, Tucker said the NCHSAA is in discussions with the Panthers about possibly hosting some of the eight football state championships at Bank of America Stadium. The association has held state championships at NC State and UNC, but according to Tucker, NC State won’t be available this year due to conflicts with the Lenovo Center.
Other than the association’s upcoming plans, the rising number of ejections at NCHSAA events was discussed at last week’s meeting.
As of Sept. 25, the NCHSAA reported 257 ejections, which is more than what was reported at the same time in 2024.
A pie chart was displayed showing the breakdown of reasons for the ejections. Profanity and racial slurs were the largest culprit with 41.7%, followed by fighting (29.6%), flagrant contact (17.5%), taunting and baiting (4%), leaving the bench (3.1%), disrespect and contact (1.8%), obscene gesture (1.3%) and spitting (0.9%).
In September, a football player at Ben L. Smith High School threw a punch at a referee near the end of a game against Andrews High School in High Point. Charges were filed against the player.
Poor sportsmanship has even spread beyond the varsity level as Tucker mentioned receiving a report about a bench clearing at a JV football game.
“I know we’ve said a lot about it, but I think we have to because the behavior, it almost seems out of control,” Tucker said.
“We’ve got to do something. And I think if we just be committed to making sure to making sure that the young people understand our expectations, I think we have to talk to them. We let them know that this is just not going to be tolerated.”
The NCHSAA also shared a draft budget of its expected revenue and expenses for the 2025-26 athletic season.
The association hopes to bring in just over $2.5 million in playoff revenue and $1.1 million from corporate sponsors. Together, those two streams make up 81% of the expected revenue with the playoffs holding 55% by itself.
Awards, team expenses and gate shares — money that goes towards the member schools — is expected to be 50% of the NCHSAA’s expenses with an estimated value of $2.9 million. Salaries and benefits are expected to be the next highest expense (28%) at $1.6 million.
After the Virginia Tech football staff presented at the North Carolina Coaches Association Coaching Clinic last summer, NC State’s football staff will present at the next clinic from July 20-22 at the First Horizon Coliseum Special Events Center. Wake Forest’s football staff is expected to follow at the 2027 clinic.
