The Wyoming High School Activities Association Board of Directors on Wednesday unanimously approved Casper's all-or-nothing proposal to host the Class 4A/3A and 2A/1A basketball, all-class wrestling, all-class track and field and all-class volleyball finals beginning with the 2006-07 school year.

Casper's five-year, packaged bid beat out offers from Laramie and Park County that would have broken up the championship events. With a team of nervous Casper officials attending the meeting in Casper, the proposal met little resistance. But there were indications the next round of bidding in 2010 won't be as easy.

"We felt the Casper proposal addressed all of our culminating events' needs, answered some questions we had about recent events, and provided the facilities, hotels and restaurants to make the events successful," board member and Star Valley Activities Director Richard Hoopes said. "We felt this was the best for the WHSAA and the students involved in those activities."

The packaged deal proved to be the deciding factor in a multi-million dollar game of poker.

Casper was the only city to submit a bid for 2A/1A basketball, wrestling and track and field. If the board had selected another city, the WHSAA would have had to rebid those events or negotiate a contract with a host city.

Laramie bid for the 4A/3A basketball and a 4A/3A volleyball finals, Cody bid for an all-class volleyball tournament, and Cody teamed up with Powell to submit a 4A/3A basketball bid. If the board had approved one of those options, the WHSAA also would have been forced to seek new bids or solicit hosts.

University of Wyoming Athletics Director Gary Barta congratulated Casper and said the city has been a terrific host for the state finals, but he added that university and Laramie officials were "very, very disappointed" with the WHSAA's decision. Barta also claimed WHSAA officials indicated prior to the bidding process that they would like to split up the championships among different cities, but he was told after Wednesday's vote that the association wanted them to remain a packaged deal.

"We put together an aggressive bid," Barta said. "We thought there was an opportunity for Casper to have some of the championships and for Laramie to have some of the championships."

Laramie's proposal called for games and matches to be played at the Arena-Auditorium and the MultiPurpose Gym on the campus of the University of Wyoming. Tournaments in Park County would have been played at area public schools.

During the last bidding session in 2000, Casper offered two proposals to the WHSAA - one packaging all five events and another parceling the tournaments and meets individually.

"We pushed their hand a little, we knew that (the packaged bid) was a calculated risk," said Monte McNamee, chairman of Casper's Proud to Host the Best Committee (PHBC). "In the end, though, we felt this was in the best interest of the schools and the WHSAA."

Casper's bid scrapped the current $17,000 fee it charges the WHSAA to use the Casper Events Center and Casper College's Swede Erickson Thunderbird Gymnasium each year. In addition, the deal will pay the WHSAA $5,000 per year, leave all of the gate receipts for the WHSAA, and equally split the city's sponsorship revenues over $70,000.

The city will also erase the facility-use fee for this academic year and 2005-06.

Casper and Laramie submitted five-year bids that would run through 2011, while the bids from Park County would have gone through 2009.

"We strongly felt that hosting all five tournaments would make a stronger proposal this time around," McNamee said.

The WHSAA's Calendar and Culminating Events Committee recommended Casper as the host site for the major events on Tuesday, but the full board took until Wednesday morning to finalize its decision.

"The board looked at it from a point of concerns they had and how they were addressed," WHSAA Commissioner Ron Laird said. "And Casper stepped up to the plate."

Laird admitted that some board members felt they were "held hostage" by Casper's packaged deal, and he hopes the WHSAA revises its bidding process as a result.

"What I don't want to happen is for people and communities to assume that Casper will always have it," Laird said. "We're going to benefit from this deal this time around, but we also need to look at how we select these hosts."

Casper also figures to gain from the decision.

According to figures from the PHBC, approximately $3.5 million is spent each year Casper hosts the five championships - $1 million from wrestling, $750,000 from each basketball weekend, and $500,000 each from volleyball and track and field. Those figures do not include a multiplier often used by economists to estimate the overall impact of these events.

"Casper was looking at maintaining or losing $15-to-$18 million of direct impact by this decision," said McNamee. He added that as much as three-fourths of that money comes from outside the city.

The minimal discussion that took place prior to Wednesday's vote focused on the non-Casper bids. Board members publically thanked Laramie and Park County for their participation and hoped they would submit bids for future events. Some also praised UW for its cooperation with the Laramie bid and for its plan to establish a festival-like atmosphere for the championships.

"Any time we can get kids on a college campus, we should support that," board member Jack Tarter of Buffalo said.

Barta said WHSAA officials had stressed that they were interested in some "educational components" UW and Laramie offered. He said the bid included opportunities for high school students to learn about the enrollment process at a university from UW counselors, information for student-athletes on preparing for life as an athlete at a university, and campus tours among other things.

"There's no question that our interest in bidding on the state championships was reaching out to the state," Barta said.

Cheyenne Central High School Activities Director Duane Schopp abstained from the vote because of his involvement with the Laramie bid. After the meeting, he also suggested the WHSAA revamp its bidding process.

"As a board, we need to take a look at each championship and see what's best - which site can do the best job of hosting the event?" Schopp said. "The university has open arms right now, they're communicating in a very positive manner, and I think that's something everyone can be proud of."

Schopp added, "I think the university did an outstanding job of trying to integrate athletics with academics."

Barta said it was too soon to tell if Laramie and UW join the bidding process five years from now.

"What I will share with you is our sentiments and our feelings will remain the same," he said. "We think the University of Wyoming and Laramie would be wonderful hosts for the championships."

The board discussed reducing the bid cycle from five to three years and discouraging future packaged bids. In the long run, both McNamee and Schopp expect the next site selection interval in 2010 to be more competitive.

"Absolutely, we learned a lot," Schopp said.

"The next round," McNamee said, "is going to be much more difficult."

High school sports coordinator David Mayberry can be reached at (307) 266-0634 or david.mayberry@casperstartribune.net

Sports editor Ron Gullberg can be reached at (307) 266-0573 or ron.gullberg@casperstartribune.net.