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From the WIAA --

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control approved an extension of the agreement with the Resch Center in Green Bay to serve as the host venue of the State Girls Volleyball and Basketball Tournaments through 2020 in an announcement made today at a media conference in Green Bay. 

“This culminates several months of very collegial work and effort on behalf of the WIAA staff, PMI staff, the Stadium District Board, Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the hotel and hospitality industry in Green Bay,” said WIAA Executive Director Dave Anderson (photo right). “It (extension) was certainly influenced by the terrific reaction and response that we have always felt and enjoyed in coming to the Resch Center for State volleyball and further driven home by our experience last March. 

“We look forward to the potential of these events and making Green Bay and the Resch Center a real destination for two very premier WIAA girls tournaments,” he said. The overall engagement of the Grenn Bay community, the support of the Green Bay Packers organization and plans to install a new scoreboard and enhance the existing sound system by 2015 were also factors in the extension.

Last year marked the first time the girls basketball State Tournament was conducted outside of Madison in its 39-year history. The paid attendance of 39,966 was the highest for the tournament since 2008. In addition, 11 of the 13 largest attended State Girls Volleyball Tournaments have come since moving to the Resch Center when it opened in 2002. In 2004, the Resch Center was named Tour Guide Magazine's Best New Venue. It was also ranked by Pollstar as one of the top 100 buildings in the world.

“What the coaches and teams experienced is an atmosphere, and that’s what you want when you walk out onto the court,” said Brendan Bruss, Executive Vice President of PMI Entertainment Group. “The girls eyes opened up and thought this is a big-time event. This is the State tournament, and anyone that experienced it knows that the next seven years will be just as exciting.”
 
The 2013 State Girls Volleyball Tournament will be held on Nov. 7-9, and the 2014 State Girls Basketball Tournament is scheduled for March 20-22, one week following the State Boys Basketball Tournament. The girls tournament will revert back to its traditional dates in 2015 on March 12-14, one week prior to the State Boys Basketball Tournament.

The WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 505 senior high schools and 70 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It sponsors 25 championship tournament series. For more information, please contact the WIAA office at (715) 344-8580 or access our website at www.wiaawi.org.