.....field is 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide(think of Hoosiers with the dimensions being said by the coach) 35-12, BC was the better team that night and not sure any field or stadium would have made a difference.Maybe Tipp should have installed a lot more bleachers so you guys could host the final four.
If certain people from the OHSAA have there way under a new proposal they would eliminate the neutral sites top seed would host. It is also being talked about that have one multiple site like a Massillon and Canton and do the semi Finals and Finals in one spot.Because a football stadium can only host one game any given week of the playoffs. Basketball arenas can host multiple games in one day/night. Football games require a lot more volunteers to host than basketball games. They could theoretically set the venues in advance but if they did this you wouldn't get good venues, you would get the same type of venues as London HS that the OP mentioned, not Welcome or Troy. So it wouldn't be to any advantage to set the venues well ahead of time at lesser venues. Universities don't have their calendar set in stone for use of their stadiums and attached facilities far enough in advance. Often events such as career fairs don't get scheduled until a few months before they take place. Often univeristy teams need to utilize the stadium/facilities at times unforseen due to inclimate weather or extenuating circumstances forcing them to move the date of an event or practice. University stadiums will prioritize the needs of the university first, and everything else (including high school football) comes after. You can't dictate to the universities when you are going to use their stadium or how much you are going to pay them to use it. Using university facilities is not the norm anyways, the 2 games at Akron were a unique exception and is not the norm by any means. Similarly the high school stadiums require volunteers, and no school is willing to commit to volunteer on a night a year in advance that their son might be playing elsewhere in the playoffs. Hence the current system where arrangements are made the Sunday before the game. It is an imperfect system but I would like to know what you could realistically do to improve it.
They’ve been trying to get a new stadium for 30 years. The only reason new bleachers went in last year is because the bleachers collapsed. The “new ones” are basically temporary and won’t last long. Tipp can’t afford bleachers and the state refuses to give our district any money whatsoever for schools or athletic facilities because the town is middle class. I will admit we have lots of middle class people—very few of which actually care to help because they think their property taxes are too high.Maybe Tipp should have installed a lot more bleachers so you guys could host the final four.
Wow. So it is very doable and the excuses of venues not hosting really has nothing to do with costs.Two states currently host all of their state semifinals at one location. And no, it's not Rhode Island and Delaware.
Iowa hosts all 14 semifinals (and all 7 finals) at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
And Minnesota hosts all 14 semifinals (and all 7 finals) at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Other places with prearranged locations are Minnesota will host at least 8 games (two four-game days on Friday and Saturday) at the Fargodome in Fargo, ND for the NW regions who don't have much in the way of large stadiums and being that cold that time of year everyone would rather bus down to Fargo and play in a dome.
The thing you have to understand is each state has its own unique situation. Especially with some NFL and college stadiums/domes being paid in part or in full by the state, and the state can then dictate to the primary tenants that the high schools are going to utilize the stadiums at no cost and set all the terms of the rental/usage. The state of Ohio does not own or have the ability to tell the Browns, Bengals, Buckeyes or any D-I college with the exception of Dayton what to do with their stadium. The state would have some say over the use of Welcome Stadium and could set the terms theoretically, but that is because it is DPS (which gets state funding) and not owned by the University which is private. Some states funded stadiums with provisions for their use as the state sees fit for high school athletics and other events.Wow. So it is very doable and the excuses of venues not hosting really has nothing to do with costs.
Minnesota law requires that the Vikings give the stadium, adequately staffed, to the MSHSL for 7 days a year. That's 3 state semifinal days and 2 state championship days. The other two days were formerly for soccer. Not sure what they do now since the semifinals used to be 12 games over two days (games started at about 9am years ago). But with the jump to 7 classes forced them to add another day of games.The thing you have to understand is each state has its own unique situation. Especially with some NFL and college stadiums/domes being paid in part or in full by the state, and the state can then dictate to the primary tenants that the high schools are going to utilize the stadiums at no cost and set all the terms of the rental/usage. The state of Ohio does not own or have the ability to tell the Browns, Bengals, Buckeyes or any D-I college with the exception of Dayton what to do with their stadium. The state would have some say over the use of Welcome Stadium and could set the terms theoretically, but that is because it is DPS (which gets state funding) and not owned by the University which is private. Some states funded stadiums with provisions for their use as the state sees fit for high school athletics and other events.
Hamilton County owns Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals' lease, however, is a literal case study in how to not negotiate a stadium agreement.The state of Ohio does not own or have the ability to tell the Browns, Bengals, Buckeyes or any D-I college with the exception of Dayton what to do with their stadium.
Cleveland leases as well from Cuyhoga County and that lease is up in 6 yearsHamilton County owns Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals' lease, however, is a literal case study in how to not negotiate a stadium agreement.
The state and Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties are going to be asked to build two new stadia in the next decade or so. If we're going to shell out $2-3 billion per stadium, hopefully one or both of the teams are smart enough to build a dome this time.Cleveland leases as well from Cuyhoga County and that lease is up in 6 years
Funny to that both could end up in the Burbs like the Chicago Bears in Arlington Heights as of right now there is a 78% Chance for both Cleveland and Cincinnati for that to happenThe state and Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties are going to be asked to build two new stadia in the next decade or so. If we're going to shell out $2-3 billion per stadium, hopefully one or both of the teams are smart enough to build a dome this time.
Which county outside Cuyahoga has the resources or population base to go after a stadium with the voter base who would actually vote FOR a tax increase?Funny to that both could end up in the Burbs like the Chicago Bears in Arlington Heights as of right now there is a 78% Chance for both Cleveland and Cincinnati for that to happen
County owned and state owned are two different things. And the terms of the lease for the primary tenants (the Browns/Bengals) dictate what you can and can't do. The NFL teams would have to accept a provision for high school use on an annual basis which they probably wouldn't do.Hamilton County owns Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals' lease, however, is a literal case study in how to not negotiate a stadium agreement.
Steelers host the WPIAL Finals and charge $250k. They're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. It's that reason the WPIAL is now looking to possibly leave Acrisure Stadium. McDonald's was their main sponsor and the games were aired on FSN/Root/AT&T Sportsnet for years and last year wasn't televised. The jump in attendance didn't make up for the loss. Tickets are $10 each, so they need 25,000 throughout the four games to break even just on tickets. They need a title sponsor and they need TV. Cowboys do it because in Texas it's hugely profitable and they three qualified sites (Jerry World, NRG, and Alamodome) bid for it and Jerry Jones is smart. He takes next to nothing for a rent fee, but gets a higher cut of ticket sales, as well as all of the concessions and parking. In the end, it costs more to host there than NRG, HOWEVER in a year like Covid restrictions, the UIL still made out great and Jones was the one that took the big hit.I have done research and off the top of my head, I know the Colts, Lions, Steelers, Ravens, Vikings, Raiders, Saints, Patriots, Cowboys, Bronocos, Gians/Jets, and Falcons all host State Finals or Semi Finals at their home fields. The Browns and Bengals are just two organizations that do not care about the community.
When people say it can't be done, those are the people that haven't ever left Ohio.
Because it's adds extra revenue? And they play Saturday afternoon games last I checked OHSAA plays on Friday as well not just Saturday then you also got to look at the fact not saying that Mount Union needs help recruiting obviously because they are a pretty successful program but that will also give their coaching staff and recruiting staff a chance to watch some of the local talent that they might not get a chance to see throughout the year.When you are hosting your own playoff games every November and December, why would you want to add the additional headache of high school games too?
Massachusetts is forced to squeeze all six title games into one day, which is why for their state titles they play ten minute quarters instead of twelve to get them all in. MA now has 8 classes, but 6 'regular'. The other two are tech schools, etc and generally aren't playing at Gillette. Though covid has messed everything up. Haven't seen where they were last year.
Name a high school stadium that:No one does anything outside after thanksgiving in Iowa or Minnesota, especially football!! The many fine football stadiums in Ohio are more than capable of hosting semi-final games. They provide the intimate feeling of intense games that cavernous college stadiums could not, I am prejudiced, but there is no better place to watch a game than Arlin Field in Mansfield.
I haven't seen 1 playoff game across any division in the past 10 years that needed more than 6,000 seats, and that's being generous. We can complain all we want about the venues not feeling "big" enough - it doesn't matter because people just don't attend games like they used to.All of the venues I mentioned in Northeast Ohio seat 12,000+, except for Bo Rein which had some seating removed from the end zones I think. The only two that you named that are at least over 10,000 are Welcome and Troy, (which I also mentioned), the others you mentioned are mostly in the 6,000-8,000 range I think.
The OHSAA also thought it was a good idea to host all of the 2020 championships at Fortress Obetz, in the days of "social distancing" they thought they could pull it off with 1 joke of a press box and 1 side of bleachersThere's a reason OHSAA has hopped between Massillon, Canton (Fawcett), Ohio State and Canton (Tom Benson)... they have huge press facilities to handle the broadcasting and all the coverage.
For starters the D-III State Championship game had around 8,000 fans, and Canfield also had a full stadium against New Philadelphia and Aurora, probably had about 5,000 fans including SRO. I think Canfield vs Poland had about six to seven thousand fans in the regular season. The D-V state championship game also had over 6,000 fans off the top of my head. Mind you that Canfield and Canfield South Range both had more fans than Bloom-Carroll and Ironton respectively, that said if they had played the games at Welcome or Troy or anywhere not in NEO, they would have had substantially less fans. However if the games are in Canton, Massillon, Akron, etc the attendance would be around 8,000 as it actually was in reality.I haven't seen 1 playoff game across any division in the past 10 years that needed more than 6,000 seats, and that's being generous. We can complain all we want about the venues not feeling "big" enough - it doesn't matter because people just don't attend games like they used to.
To many on here, the mere existence of a "stadium" means the state finals should be held there.Name a high school stadium that:
A) has adequate seating with reasonable amount on the visitor side that has similar view (i.e., elevated if there's a track, etc).
B) Has adequate parking for the expected crowds
C) Adequate lighting for television broadcasts
D) Pressbox capable of space for the number of outlets that want to cover semifinals/finals
E) Adequate sideline space at the stadium (those with tracks have plenty, ones without can have issues when it comes to a major neutral site game where you get state coverage AND the onslaught of local coverage from potentially two different areas of the state)
Very few stadiums have actually good quality lighting. Very few. Just because it's good enough for your Friday night home game doesn't mean it's good enough for broadcast quality television. The next thing that ruins most remaining stadiums is the facility big enough for the press/media/broadcasters. There's a reason OHSAA has hopped between Massillon, Canton (Fawcett), Ohio State and Canton (Tom Benson)... they have huge press facilities to handle the broadcasting and all the coverage. They also have plenty of field space, etc.
Parking is more 'fan experience' issue but a lack of parking becomes an issue for choosing to attend or sit at home and watch the broadcast of the game. Seating is more of an issue. Might have a 10k seat stadium, but if 8k are the home side, and 2k are the visitor side, with the way people spread out at GA seating you might only have real room for 5k and 1500 and if both fan bases are fairly equal there will be issues with overflow.
It is not easy.