Contact:  John Johnson or Andy Frushour 
517.332.5046 or [email protected]
 

EAST LANSING, Mich.  – Oct. 14 –  The highly popular Selection Sunday Show, announcing the qualifiers and first round pairings for the 2010 Michigan High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs, takes on a new look when it plays to cable television and Internet audiences on FOX Sports Detroit and FoxSportsDetroit.com at 7 p.m. (EDT) on October 24.

The Selection Sunday Show expands this year from 30 minutes to 60 minutes to provide for analysis of the field by the FOX Sports Detroit studio crew of Mickey York, Ryan Field and Rob Rubick; as well as providing for features and coaches interviews.

Originating live from FOX Sports Detroit’s high definition studio in its Southfield headquarters, the rundown of the 256 teams that have qualified for the MHSAA Playoffs, as well as their first round matchups and game sites, will be streamed on the Internet for the first time on the FoxSportsDetroit.com website.  The show will be available for on-demand web viewing for a week following the live production on MHSAA.tv.

“The extended format for the Selection Sunday Show makes for an even bigger celebration of the regular season because it allows for us to tell some of the stories about high school sports and talk to coaches about the upcoming tournament,” said John Johnson, communications director for the MHSAA.  “The show creates a great atmosphere for the beginning of the playoffs; it’s one of the biggest television productions we do with FOX Sports Detroit all year long, and it’s also one of the biggest nights of the year for our website, MHSAA.com.”

Following the completion of the Selection Sunday Show at about 8 p.m., the MHSAA Website – MHSAA.com -- will provide the complete list of playoff qualifiers and first round pairings.  Actual game times will be added to the list the following day as they are determined and provided by the participating schools.

The Selection Sunday Show kicks off an expanded MHSAA Championships package, where every sport will receive coverage on FOX Sports Detroit, FOX Sports Detroit-Plus or the FoxSportsDetroit.com Website.  A total of 61 championship games will be shown on FOX Sports Detroit and FOX Sports Detroit-Plus over the course of the school year – over 120 hours of programming; and an additional 400 hours of tournament competition will be available live online at FoxSportsDetroit.com.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,600 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition.  No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools.  Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.

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