The Great Falls Public Schools district is continuing their discussion of adding high school baseball to the athletic department.

Mike Henneberg, GFPS’ athletic director, is presenting an update report on baseball to the school board during their regular June 24 meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the district office.

Superintendent Tom Moore said there will be no board action taken during the meeting as it’s a report to the board.

Henneberg told The Electric that he has spent the last two years conducting analyzing whether the district is in a position to add baseball to its current roster of athletic programs.

GFPS board approves addition of high school baseball program [2022]

He said since board voted in 2022 to sanction a GFPS high school baseball program, he’s analyzed costs, resources and conducted an interest survey and had conversations with the local baseball community.

Henneberg said he’ll present all that data during the June 24 meeting.

Belgrade and Butte have fielded teams this year.

Missoula and Billings school districts recently voted to add programs.

Missoula’s school board voted that the program had to be funded through fundraising the first season and be budget neutral the following year, meaning additional district funds won’t be added to the athletic department for baseball, according to Henneberg.

GFPS approves sports ticket price increase [2023]

The Billings school district voted that the program must be self-funded for the first three seasons with an estimated first year startup costs of $244,000 with an annual expense of $131,000, according to 406 MT Sports.

In a June 2022 presentation to the school board, Henneberg estimated that adding baseball to the GFPS spring sports roster would have one-time start-up costs of about $20,000 per high school.

At the time, those estimated costs were:

• 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 at the time based on what the district was spending 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 estimated the annual cost around $73,000 for both schools. He said in 2019, the district raised about $5,500 in gate admission for softball games, which helps offset some costs.

GFPS considering adding baseball as sanctioned high school sport [2022]

Baseball facilities in the community include Don Olson Field, which is on city property and 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 had 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 in 2022.

He told the board that he asked Scott Reasoner of the Great Falls Voyagers for a draft memorandum of understanding of what facility options might be available at their stadium for GFPS and estimated costs.

Henneberg said in 2022 that the draft included a cost of less than $200 per game to use Voyager stadium and the district estimated about 20 home games between that stadium and another.

He said then based on the draft, the cost to use the Voyagers facility could be lower than what the district pays the City of Great Falls for use of the MultiSports complex for softball.

Bill Bronson, school board member, said he supported adding baseball, but wanted an update from Henneberg the next year on their progress and whether there were any indications that the district shouldn’t move forward.