Endowment Games Explained

High school football returned Friday with dozens of endowment games across the state.

Confused about what constitutes an endowment game? Well, here’s the key number to know: Eight.

That’s the number of dollars, in millions, that the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has in its endowment.

The endowment games have made following high school football more difficult. When the endowment games began, in 1991, the 10-game high school season was extended to 11 games for schools that wanted to play an endowment game. The first week of the season was reserved for endowment play.

Now, an endowment game can be at any time. If you’re a fan, it can be hard to know if a game is an endowment game or not. The odd thing is that at the end of the year, each school can drop one non-conference game for the sake of seeding for the state tournament.

So, a team that finishes 7-4 on the field can drop one non-conference game – whether an endowment game or not – and its record, for the sake of playoffs seeding, is 7-3.

Hard to follow? Yes.

But has the endowment idea been a success?

Absolutely. In fact, it’s one of Charlie Adams’ signature achievements as executive director of NCHSAA.

I was the high school reporter for The News & Observer in 1984 when the NCHSAA made a stunning announcement: Longtime executive director Simon Terrell would retire.

This was the equivalent of Dean Smith or Mike Krzyzewski stepping down. Terrell was a dominant figure in high school athletics and directed the association from 1967 to 1984. The association’s headquarters are named in his honor.

Into his placed stepped Adams, who had white hair even then but who was young, boyish and seemed, at least to me, unlikely to match Terrell’s stature.

But Adams has proven to be a visionary leader and has driven high school sports in this state to fresh heights. In particular, he pushed for new revenue streams that would increase the quality of the experience and put the association on sound financial footing.

The endowment games were a step in that direction. Beginning in 1991, high school teams could play an 11th game, and one-fourth of the proceeds would go to the NCHSAA endowment. The schools, of course, got to keep the rest. So, the extra game meant extra money for them.

Over the years, the endowment has boomed to $8 million. The endowment games have earned $4.5 million for the school in extra gate receipts, according to the NCHSAA. And while the principal of the endowment is not spent, the NCHSAA has given $570,000 back to the schools through the years.

Is it a perfect system? Not a chance.