BURZICHELLI'S ONGOING BATTLE WITH THE NJSIAA

By law, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is allowed to increase ticket prices during playoff matches only if the games are played in a venue outside a high school stadium with the authority of the Commissioner of Education but Assemblyman John Burzichelli who sponsored the legislation the was the catalyst for the law says the group still increased tickets prices for wrestling tournaments held in high school facilities. The law was designed to control excessive spending and ticket-pricing practices by the management of the NJSIAA, a voluntary organization made up of 425 accredited public, private and parochial high schools in the state.

Burzichelli's battle with the NJSIAA has been going on for almost six years. He says, “They had three years to get ready for this law, knew it was coming and still disregarded it. The law isn’t a joke. I expect it to be followed, and this is no time to be increasing ticket prices on hard-working New Jerseyans.”

The law bars New Jersey's school districts from joining sport associations that charge exorbitant ticket prices for playoff competitions, increase licensing fees for broadcasts of playoff games or require schools to pay excessive membership fees.

Burzichelli says, “I have asked the Department of Education to put this runaway group, the NJSIAA, on notice that their relationship with our public schools is now in jeopardy. I will not allow a situation to exist in which parents, families and supporters have to think twice about attending a sports competition because the cost of tickets has been set too high in violation of state law.”