Cite as: 531 U. S. 288 (2001)
Thomas, J., dissenting
a representative capacity on behalf of all the private and public schools in his region of Tennessee, and not simply his individual school.
The State of Tennessee did not create the TSSAA. The State does not fund the TSSAA and does not pay its employees.1 In fact, only 4% of the TSSAA's revenue comes from the dues paid by member schools; the bulk of its operating budget is derived from gate receipts at tournaments it sponsors. The State does not permit the TSSAA to use state-owned facilities for a discounted fee, and it does not exempt the TSSAA from state taxation. No Tennessee law authorizes the State to coordinate interscholastic athletics or empowers another entity to organize interscholastic athletics on behalf of the State.2 The only state pronouncement ac-1 Although the TSSAA's employees, who typically are retired teachers, are allowed to participate in the state retirement system, the State does not pay any portion of the employer contribution for them. The TSSAA is one of three private associations, along with the Tennessee Education Association and the Tennessee School Boards Association, whose employees are statutorily permitted to participate in the state retirement system. Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-35-118 (1993).
2 The first formal state acknowledgment of the TSSAA's existence did not occur until 1972, when the State Board of Education passed a resolution stating that it "recognizes and designates [the TSSAA] as the organization to supervise and regulate the athletic activities in which the public junior and senior high schools of Tennessee participate in on an interscholastic basis." App. 211. There is no indication that the TSSAA invited this resolution or that the resolution in any way altered the actions of the TSSAA or the State following its adoption in 1972. In fact, it appears that the resolution was not entirely accurate: The TSSAA does not supervise or regulate regular season interscholastic contests. In any event, the resolution was revoked in 1996. Contrary to the majority's reference to its revocation as being "winks and nods," ante, at 301, the repeal of the 1972 resolution appears to have had no more impact on the TSSAA's operation than did its passage.
The majority also cites this resolution to support its assertion that "[e]ver since the Association was incorporated in 1925, Tennessee's State Board of Education . . . has acknowledged the corporation's function 'in
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