The GHSA has money. A lot of it. So, how did it grow this wealth?

With more than $12.8 million in net assets, including $5.5 million in cash reserves, the Georgia High School Association is twice as wealthy as it was a decade ago. It holds five times more cash than in 2015.

The association made an unprecedented move last month when it took $150,000 from reserves to pay the 16 schools participating in the 2025 football state championships after the event lost money for the first time.

Corporate sponsorships, media partnerships, state playoff revenue and long-term investments have fueled the GHSA’s growing wealth, making the emergency football payment seem like pocket change.

The GHSA’s financial position has led to other big payouts and benefits in recent years.

The GHSA began waiving school membership dues and catastrophic insurance premiums in 2020 after spring sports were canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Those fees would’ve cost Class 6A schools $1,186 and Class A schools $490 this academic year, or $748 on average.

For the past two years, the GHSA has given schools cash payouts of twice the amount of those dues and premiums. Class 6A schools got checks for $2,372 this academic year. Class A schools got $980.

Counting the waived fees, the GHSA’s 457 member schools this year received $1 million in benefits — an average of $2,243 per school. The biggest schools came out $3,558 ahead.

“Taking in a million-plus a year that we weren’t getting in past years, you can do a lot with it,” said Robin Hines, the GHSA’s executive director when the association began waiving dues and fees. “When it hits that level, we can give money back to the schools.”

By next year, the GHSA will put $3 million from its cash reserves into a trust fund that will award $100,000 in annual scholarships to GHSA students. If profits continue at recent levels, the GHSA could replenish those cash reserves in three to five years.

The GHSA’s net assets of $12.8 million exceed those of four of its five bordering state associations. North Carolina had $16 million in net assets in 2024-25. The average among the other five states is about $9.6 million.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association in 2020 held more than $40 million in assets, which the state Legislature found excessive. That led to the founding of a independent trust, much like the one the GHSA is starting, to ensure that member schools and students are getting what the state believes they deserve.

GHSA executive director Tim Scott said states need one year’s budget in reserve for emergencies.

“Maybe before 2020, we didn’t,” Scott said. “When COVID hit and things shut down, we couldn’t have the income we’re having now because people couldn’t come to the games. It’s important that we continue to provide extracurricular activities to our young people, and we’ve got to make sure we’ve got at least a year’s worth of operating budget so we can do that.”

The budget for this academic year is $7.8 million.

For most of its history, the GHSA did not make significantly more than it brought in. A nonprofit association, it set an annual budget and simply tried to meet it.

It wasn’t until the early 1990s, under then-executive director Tommy Guillebeau, that the GHSA began building cash reserves. It started from about $500,000 earned from TV coverage of the football championship games in 1994, according to Ralph Swearngin, an associate director at the time. Swearngin served as executive director from 2001 to 2014.

“When the GHSA had its first TV contract with 11Alive, Mr. Guillebeau invested that money to establish a reserve fund for two reasons: to eventually pay the cost of catastrophic insurance for member schools and to have a year’s budget in reserve in case of an emergency situation,” Swearngin said. “We did not draw on that account throughout his tenure or mine. After that, corporate sponsorships and wise management by the following executive directors has enabled the GHSA to eliminate dues from member schools and do some other things to reimburse the membership.”

When Hines became executive director in 2017, the reserves had consistently been around $1 million, and the GHSA rarely spent any of it.

Money from corporate sponsorships has doubled since then, topping $1.3 million in 2024-25. NFHS Network and GoFan are the GHSA’s most lucrative sponsors, Scott said.

The NFHS Network provides platforms for GHSA schools to stream games, matches and events. Its profitability has grown immensely since coming on board in 2009, Scott said. GoFan is a cashless digital ticketing platform the GHSA partnered with in 2016.

In 2022, the GHSA signed on Teall Properties Group, a marketing company that manages media and sponsorship rights with high school associations in 32 states. Teall has brought more national partnerships. The GHSA previously had one contracted marketing director, who now works with Teall.

“We’ve got a team now instead of a one-man operation,” Hines said. “Along with sponsors specific to the GHSA, there are now national sponsors that are spread from all their clients.”

Media partnerships brought in a record $348,033 in the last academic year, more than four times what it did in 2022 and 66% higher than the previous year. Teall renegotiated TV rights for state playoffs, mainly those with GPB Sports, which televises the football and basketball finals, and Score Atlanta. Both have televised playoff football games for more than 10 years.

Revenue from state championships and playoffs, which the GHSA runs, also continues to grow. The GHSA gets 12% of gross revenue from all state tournaments and meets.