SYRACUSE - Unless there's a change of heart, funding for the Empire State Games will end in the next fiscal year, and that means high school athletes will have to pay if they want to play.

The New York parks department made the announcement Friday, blaming the state's huge budget deficit.

“In a time of unprecedented fiscal crisis, the unfortunate reality is that reductions have to be made across every area of government,” Carol Ash, commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said in a statement. “We have sought to strike an appropriate balance that allows the games to continue for high school and physically challenged athletes.”

Starting at the Empire State Games in late July in Poughkeepsie, participation fees will be set at $285 for the summer games and up to $100 for the winter games. The fees will cover the cost of room, board and local transportation during the four-day events.

In the summer games, scholastic boxing, fencing, and shooting will be suspended, while bobsled, luge, and skeleton will be suspended at this year's winter games next month. In addition, annual senior games and all masters and open competitions will be suspended in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in April.

The cuts have organizers worried. “I fear that the games may never recover,” Frank Intervallo, Hudson Valley regional director for the games, said in an email to coaches and staff.

The Empire State Games were begun in 1978 by former Gov. Hugh Carey and have operated on an annual budget of roughly $3 million, most of it from the state. There have never been participation fees.

“It's (charging a fee) not a foreign concept, but it would be unfortunate because one of the great things about the Empire State Games is that you're recognized as one of the finest athletes in the state and you are treated to this competition,” Jeffrey Lake, who served as chairman of the local organizing committee for the Binghamton games last summer, told the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton. “To suddenly say, congratulations, you are invited to come and represent your region - and, P.S., that'll cost you $300 - that might take some getting used to.”

The Olympic-style, all-amateur event has taken place in various locations throughout the state every year and features six competing regions. Athletes within each region are broken down into three separate divisions - scholastic, open and masters. The summer games have featured 28 events, including track and field, basketball, baseball, cycling, swimming and volleyball.

An estimated crowd of nearly 7,000 watched the 2006 opening ceremony in Rochester, which included fireworks and performances by a local high school choir, trampoline artists, and a pop-rock band.

“This state is like no other,” Carey told more than 6,000 athletes in attendance. “We started the Empire State Games to give people hope for tomorrow.”

For the 2010 Summer Games in Buffalo, Ash said her agency would be pursuing private sponsorship with the hope of reinstating competitions that were suspended, as well as revisiting a new fee structure.

Ralph Galanti, organizing chairman for the Buffalo games, said he's determined not to force scholastic athletes to pay to play.

“You can't make these kids pay. A lot of the poor-income families won't be able to afford it,” Galanti told The Buffalo News. “It will eliminate a lot of the good athletes and take away from the prestige of the games. Instead of having the elite and best players, only the people who can afford it will be there. That's not the true meaning of the Empire State Games.”