MHSAA Approves Cooperative teams for the Fall, Could OAA get involved???

Written Tuesday May 17th at 10:15 PM

The MHSAA made an interesting move in which schools could merge beginning in the fall according to Detroit Free Press Sports writer Mick McCabe.

The league’s leadership council approved the measure to allow cooperative programs for nine sports which includes softball, baseball, soccer, cheerleading, golf, cross country, tennis, and wrestling.

Hockey and Lacrosse are permitted according to the league to have cooperative programs but as long as the school doesn’t exceed 3,500 students.

However, there is a catch, the school cannot exceed 1,000 students and they have to be in the same school district. Cooperative cases approved on a case by case basis but the school must prove that it has had a history of longstanding lack of participation.

The move could be seen as a benefit for schools outside of Oakland County like Detroit, Lansing, Flint, and Saginaw which has struggled with athletic participation in those sports but it could benefit teams like Hazel Park and Ferndale which have the fewest students in the OAA.

We’ll see what happens.