Is it time to get rid of Neutral site games in playoffs?

cincifbfan said:
Some neutral sights dont make any sense especially in the Cincy area. For instance Lakota West traveled to Princeton last week and this week which is only 5 miles away.

Kings both last week and this week travel to Mason for their gane which is only 4 miles away.
So instead of possibly having top seed host and only having 1 team travel (significantly farther than the other), they do weird pairings like this where they have to pay for West and Kings to travel 5 minutes. That's just plain dumb, and it happens every year in region's 4 & 8.
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You didn't suggest solution, but I suppose giving the teams playing an option of neutral or home team would address that scenario in which the schools are close. I suppose they could for whatever reason choose it even if not close.
 
adog said:
Why would you get bigger crowds? Only from the home team. You may shoot yourself in the foot and lose crowd size because visiting team fans may not travel as far.
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So you really think the crowd size for the Massillon / Lake game will be bigger a hour plus away than having it at PBT. Your clueless then. A casual fan might travel about 10 miles away. When you get to 30 miles away , the non diehard fan taps out. Make it an hour plus away and no one but the parents are going practically. The crowd would be at least double if at Massillon.
 
eastisbest said:
You didn't suggest solution, but I suppose giving the teams playing an option of neutral or home team would address that scenario in which the schools are close. I suppose they could for whatever reason choose it even if not close.
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I did earlier. I suggested that the higher seed hosts until the state semi-finals.
 
serpico said:
It seems to me that both West’s and Kings’ travel expenses in these instances are absolutely trivial. I’m not understanding the problem.
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The bus drivers are paid by the hour. The only real savings would be fuel savings by having West and Kings travel such a small distance. Again, it may seem trivial, but why pay for 2 teams to travel when only 1 team has to?
 
The lake Massillon game would have double the fans if it was at PBT. Try getting to Byers field on a Friday night a hour and 20 minutes away from Lake. This is insanity. The game should have been in Stark county. Its obvious neutral sites should be for finals or semis too and let first three rounds be at home of higher seed.
 
neofootball10 said:
The lake Massillon game would have double the fans if it was at PBT. Try getting to Byers field on a Friday night a hour and 20 minutes away from Lake. This is insanity. The game should have been in Stark county. Its obvious neutral sites should be for finals or semis too and let first three rounds be at home of higher seed.
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Where in Stark County did you want the game?

You can't play at the Hall of Fame because that's where the State Championship Games are held and people would complain that it wasn't fair to let someone play there ahead of time.

You can't play at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium or at Lake because it's the home team of one of the participants.

You can't play at Mount Union, they're preparing for their own playoff game.

Tuslaw and Canton South don't have turf.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Marlington, Canal Fulton, Canton Central Catholic, East Canton, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Fairless, are too small.

GlenOak, Louisville, Jackson are probably not big enough if you're going to pretend that Tiger fans are going to simply invade any stadium they play at.

Perry might be big enough, but they're playing their own game on Friday night, so they wouldn't host.

So...where would you like them to play in Stark County?
 
*67 said:
Where in Stark County did you want the game?

You can't play at the Hall of Fame because that's where the State Championship Games are held and people would complain that it wasn't fair to let someone play there ahead of time.

You can't play at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium or at Lake because it's the home team of one of the participants.

You can't play at Mount Union, they're preparing for their own playoff game.

Tuslaw and Canton South don't have turf.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Marlington, Canal Fulton, Canton Central Catholic, East Canton, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Fairless, are too small.

GlenOak, Louisville, Jackson are probably not big enough if you're going to pretend that Tiger fans are going to simply invade any stadium they play at.

Perry might be big enough, but they're playing their own game on Friday night, so they wouldn't host.

So...where would you like them to play in Stark County?
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Perry is not playing Friday night. GlenOak, Jackson, Louisville, Perry all would have been better selections. Even Green, Medina and some other stadiums in nearby counties would have been better.
 
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Sean5 said:
Perry is not playing Friday night. GlenOak, Jackson, Louisville, Perry all would have been better selections. Even Green, Medina and some other stadiums in nearby counties would have been better.
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You're right. I mistook "Perry" as "Massillon Perry".

But it can't be "THIS GAME SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN STARK COUNTY" and then "well maybe a different stadium in a closer county".
 
*67 said:
You're right. I mistook "Perry" as "Massillon Perry".

But it can't be "THIS GAME SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN STARK COUNTY" and then "well maybe a different stadium in a closer county".
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Just saying there were better options that would have been less travel for both teams and had a larger crowd.
 
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*67 said:
Where in Stark County did you want the game?

You can't play at the Hall of Fame because that's where the State Championship Games are held and people would complain that it wasn't fair to let someone play there ahead of time.

You can't play at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium or at Lake because it's the home team of one of the participants.

You can't play at Mount Union, they're preparing for their own playoff game.

Tuslaw and Canton South don't have turf.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Marlington, Canal Fulton, Canton Central Catholic, East Canton, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Fairless, are too small.

GlenOak, Louisville, Jackson are probably not big enough if you're going to pretend that Tiger fans are going to simply invade any stadium they play at.

Perry might be big enough, but they're playing their own game on Friday night, so they wouldn't host.

So...where would you like them to play in Stark County?
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So why does any of that become a Cuyahoga County, specifically Parma, problem?

Let's call it was it is. Seems obvious the decision to host Massillon vs. Lake at Byers instead of Holy Name vs. Padua (1 and 3 miles from Byers) was made solely to accommodate Massillon's huge fan base. Now we've got to trek across the I480 bridge at rush hour because Stark County won't or can't accommodate its own teams. HoF could've made an exception.

Most of Cuyahoga County and certain the city of Parma would prefer the OHSAA had picked a smaller, but local stadium and left some Massillon folks home to watch on TV.

This is a sad joke.
 
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*67 said:
Where in Stark County did you want the game?

You can't play at the Hall of Fame because that's where the State Championship Games are held and people would complain that it wasn't fair to let someone play there ahead of time.

You can't play at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium or at Lake because it's the home team of one of the participants.

You can't play at Mount Union, they're preparing for their own playoff game.

Tuslaw and Canton South don't have turf.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Marlington, Canal Fulton, Canton Central Catholic, East Canton, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Fairless, are too small.

GlenOak, Louisville, Jackson are probably not big enough if you're going to pretend that Tiger fans are going to simply invade any stadium they play at.

Perry might be big enough, but they're playing their own game on Friday night, so they wouldn't host.

So...where would you like them to play in Stark County?
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The whole you can't play in Canton till the final is silly. What advantage is gained? The field dimensions are the same. And it's not like Lake or Massillon are exactly strangers to playing in that stadium. It absolutely should have been there or Akron...failing that there are plenty of high school stadiums in the area that could have hosted. Sending teams 15 minutes away from each other an hour away to play is ridiculous.
 
y2h said:
The whole you can't play in Canton till the final is silly. What advantage is gained? The field dimensions are the same. And it's not like Lake or Massillon are exactly strangers to playing in that stadium. It absolutely should have been there or Akron...failing that there are plenty of high school stadiums in the area that could have hosted. Sending teams 15 minutes away from each other an hour away to play is ridiculous.
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While also sending two other teams 4 miles apart and 1 and 3 miles from Byers about 30 minutes away. Ridiculous is being generous.
 
y2h said:
The whole you can't play in Canton till the final is silly. What advantage is gained? The field dimensions are the same. And it's not like Lake or Massillon are exactly strangers to playing in that stadium. It absolutely should have been there or Akron...failing that there are plenty of high school stadiums in the area that could have hosted. Sending teams 15 minutes away from each other an hour away to play is ridiculous.
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I am in complete agreement with you...but that doesn't mean everyone is as smart as you and I.
 
You people on here complaining about 30 min trips for playoff games in the bigger population areas. How bout living on the NW or SE part of the state. Average trips are from 1.5 hrs to 2.5 hour trips!! Some of you people are ungrateful & entitled lil brats. Lol
 
neofootball10 said:
So you really think the crowd size for the Massillon / Lake game will be bigger a hour plus away than having it at PBT. Your clueless then. A casual fan might travel about 10 miles away. When you get to 30 miles away , the non diehard fan taps out. Make it an hour plus away and no one but the parents are going practically. The crowd would be at least double if at Massillon.
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Clueless? Wow, but I guess that is better than ignorant. Contrary to popular belief, there are more schools that play football than Massillon & Lake. Here out in the ole boonies, there are teams from Lima area that play teams from Cincinnati, Portsmouth etc. Matter of fact Wapakoneta just drove an hr to Trotwood Madison to play Hamilton Badin. If they had to go to Badin, it would have been another 45 min drive. Would have most of Wapak fans driven the extra miles? Probably, but some would not. Really must be nice to be so sheltered in your little world in NEO, but you really need to get out over an hr away and explore Ohio. It’s a great state to explore
 
cincifbfan said:
Some neutral sights dont make any sense especially in the Cincy area. For instance Lakota West traveled to Princeton last week and this week which is only 5 miles away.
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eastisbest said:
You didn't suggest solution, but I suppose giving the teams playing an option of neutral or home team would address that scenario in which the schools are close. I suppose they could for whatever reason choose it even if not close.
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cincifbfan said:
I did earlier. I suggested that the higher seed hosts until the state semi-finals.
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I guess I don't follow how the solution to "some" was to change "all?"

I think it a matter of a person either doesn't feel long drives should be addressed or they do? I do think the problem of "too close" you bring up is legit but could be resolved by agreement of the schools on a home site, or revenue share or whatever if OHSAA were to make that an option in ALL cases.
 
*67 said:
Where in Stark County did you want the game?

You can't play at the Hall of Fame because that's where the State Championship Games are held and people would complain that it wasn't fair to let someone play there ahead of time.

You can't play at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium or at Lake because it's the home team of one of the participants.

You can't play at Mount Union, they're preparing for their own playoff game.

Tuslaw and Canton South don't have turf.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Marlington, Canal Fulton, Canton Central Catholic, East Canton, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Fairless, are too small.

GlenOak, Louisville, Jackson are probably not big enough if you're going to pretend that Tiger fans are going to simply invade any stadium they play at.

Perry might be big enough, but they're playing their own game on Friday night, so they wouldn't host.

So...where would you like them to play in Stark County?
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This man knows stadia!
 
The neutral idea sounds great but the state does not make it worthwhile for teams to host for measly 2800 bucks. Not worth their effort. Let higher seed team get playoff home games until semifinals. Problem solved. If a team feels the playing surface is trash. Have the state have a inspector decide if a neutral site is needed for rare occasions the home teams field is garbage. Done. As far as being spoiled. I have no problem driving a hour to see a game but MOST people who are not related to a player , cheerleader or band member going to drive a hour and 20 minutes away to see a playoff game especially on a Friday night during rush hour on I-480. The crowd size would be doubled at PAUL BROWN stadium. Plus, Byers field is a dump. Always windy. and has a anti-septic concrete institution feel. It does not even have the mall next to it anymore.
 
oh, so we’re having this argument for a dramatic overhaul of the way things are done because… [checks notes] one (or two) site selection(s) was/were less expedient for a couple fanbases.

Brilliant!
 
cincifbfan said:
Some neutral sights dont make any sense especially in the Cincy area. For instance Lakota West traveled to Princeton last week and this week which is only 5 miles away.

Kings both last week and this week travel to Mason for their gane which is only 4 miles away.
So instead of possibly having top seed host and only having 1 team travel (significantly farther than the other), they do weird pairings like this where they have to pay for West and Kings to travel 5 minutes. That's just plain dumb, and it happens every year in region's 4 & 8.
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You didn't mention that "significantly farther" distance for both of their opponents......

They both traveled an additional 12 miles.

Oh, the humainity...... :rolleyes:
 
This thread is stupid. Anyone who thinks we should go back to playing on beat up grass fields for regional semi and regional championship games needs their head checked. Also, players, coaches, and fans all enjoy seeing and playing at the different stadiums that host these games. If the issue is not enough places willing to host then there's a very easy fix for that - put pressure on the OHSAA to pay the host sites enough to make it worth it.
 
Most other states play all games except state games at home team of one of the teams. Would make more money and save trouble for sites workers to have to do a ton of work for peanuts. Blow it all up if the system is stupid. The site choices are more than on eor two a year that make zero sense.
 
long story short.. some of the sites this year were a disaster. sending 2 Parma schools to the other side of Cleveland while 2 Stark county schools invade Parma is atrocious.. i can name about 4-5 better sites off the top of my head.

no one is complaining about a 30 minute trip. people are complaining about the lack of common sense used when selecting the sites.

it’s not Northeast Ohio’s fault that they aren’t as isolated as the SE or NW.. the issue here is the logic used to pick sites. sure, 2 teams in SE Ohio may have to drive an hour and a half to play.. but it was the best site possible. and that’s perfectly fine.

i don’t like this mentality of just “dealing with it” if things are OK. no reason we shouldn’t always work towards a better situation.
 
With there being at least three (3) teams on different extreme points of the Ohio River still alive, and some of their opponents (along with the other ones that could’ve been drawn instead) being far AF away, the “higher seed hosts = more ticket revenue” idea falls flat.
 
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