Great Falls Public Schools officials are considering adding baseball as a Montana High School Association sanctioned sport for the 2024 high school spring season.

During the April 11 school board meeting, GFPS Athletic Director Mike Henneberg discussed the proposal.

The MHSA voted in January to add baseball as a sanctioned sport though it’s up to individual districts whether to add it to their athletic departments.

Henneberg said there were more than 85 votes to add baseball, but he doesn’t anticipate that all district will add the sport.

He said that district personnel have been in discussions about adding baseball since January and that Montana is one of three states that doesn’t have baseball as a high school sport.

Considerations to add baseball, Henneberg told the board, include increased opportunities for athletes; lower costs for high school level players; athlete interest and public support.

He said the local Legion baseball program has about 42 athletes in three levels and the Babe Ruth leagues for middle schoolers have about 69 players.

The goal, if the district adds baseball, is to get 24-30 players per high school to have junior varsity and varsity teams.

Henneberg said that the local Legion organization and the Voyagers have expressed support for the proposal and he’s received emails from the public in support.

Adding baseball to the GFPS spring sports roster will have one-time start-up costs of about $20,000 per high school, Henneberg said.

He estimated those costs to include:

• uniforms: aout $8,000 per school
• equipment and gear: about $8,000 per school
• miscellaneous costs: about $4,000 per school

The annual expenses, Henneberg estimated based on what the district spends for softball, include:

• coaching salaries for each school, which is one head coach and three assistants for softball: base cost of $14,747
• transportation: $18,000
• field rental: $1,400 per school to use the city’s Multi Sports complex
• umpire fees: $5,400 for both schools, based on 2019 numbers, which was the last normal season
• gate workers: about $650 based on 2019 numbers

Henneberg estimates the annual cost around $73,000 for both schools, so . He said in 2019, the district raised about $5,500 in gate admission for softball games, which helps offset some costs.

Baseball facilities in the community include Don Olson Field, which is on city property and currently leased to the Legion program; the Little League fields at Westside and American complexes, both of which are large enough for high school baseball and have expressed willingness to provide fields in exchange for assistance with maintenance; and Centene Stadium, which would be available for games and cost about $100 to GFPS to cover the cost of the groundskeeper, Henneberg said.

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He’s recommending starting a high school baseball program in the spring of 2024, if the board approves, to give the district time to properly establish the programs, hire coaches, recruit athletes, budget for start-up costs and fundraise.

If baseball will be available to athletes in other communities, Henneberg said he wants it to be available to GFPS students.

Concerns, he said, include the availability of resources and competition with existing spring sports, availability of coaches, buses, and the weather.

It’s unclear, he said, what other districts are doing in terms of adding baseball.

Another issue to address is equity between male and female sports.

Henneberg said that currently with girls wrestling, the district has one additional female sport, though their could be an equity argument if the boys play under the lights at Centene Stadium and the softball teams don’t.

Marlee Sunchild, board member, said another potential issue could be the availability of indoor practice space and batting cages since there’s only one at each school.

Henneberg said that there is competition for indoor practice space with existing sports.

Scott Reasoner, Voyagers general manager, said that they have plans for two indoor batting cages and are planning to be done by 2024 and would make those available to GFPS for baseball and softball programs.

“The Voyagers are very much behind this,” Reasoner said. “It’s very much needed.

He said that the drop-off in participation from Little Leagues to Legion is high and largely due to the cost and commitment. He said it’s a great program, but can get expensive for families.

Bill Bronson, school board member, said that there are details to sort through pertaining to cost and equity, but “if we can do it, I’d like to see us do it.”

Henneberg said that the district charges a small participation fee for extracurriculars and in 2019, the district increased the sports fees slightly to help offset costs.

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The current fees are

• $40.00 for first extracurricular activity
• $70.00 for two or more activities
• Students who qualify for free or reduced school lunch shall be granted a 50 percent reduction of the participation fees.

Henneberg said that the fees have existed for years, but have been kept low because officials want to make athletics and other extracurriculars available to all students and not cost prohibitive.

“I think we’re an essential component for a lot of kids,” Henneberg said, and sports, as well as other extracurriculars, can help keep kids in school.

He said that athletics makes up about two percent of the total GFPS budget and most sports do their own fundraising to supplement their programs.