OHSAA Wants To Continue To Play State Football Title Games In Canton...WHY?

There are 4 general population centers in Ohio. Central, Northwest, Southwest and Northeast The current setup for the games is in the southern and central portion of the Northeast quadrant. Northwest is a push between Canton and Columbus. The only real population center that now has further travel is Southwest. And the central portion of the state is not providing a quality venue that is cost effective! If you are arguing for a soccer stadium and at the same time make comments like Canton is a dump I guess you haven’t spent anytime where the soccer stadium resides. Any one remotely advocating for a soccer stadium vs at the pro football hall of fame, has no football credibility to begin with. At the end of the day if you are complaining about a 4 hour drive to a state championship game then don’t go, or put some money up for a facility and get a competitive bid out for the games!
 
L Hand said:
Yawn. The game should be either geographically more centrally located (if a permanent site) or it should rotate.
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Rotating sites has its own set of problems.

Like: between which sites? You can't replace something with nothing, and feasible alternatives to Canton are noticeably absent in here (and in all other threads). Pay attention to the word "feasible". It is not synonymous with "wishful", which more accurately describes the majority of suggestions. Or one could simply avoid naming an alternative altogether as one persistent complainer has done.
 
LICKING COUNTY FAN said:
I know you understand what I mean but I am beginning to wonder. So I will break it down so that you SHOULD NOT have any other hiccups.
The games have such low attendance that they should ONLY be played in high school stadiums UNTIL the crowd size goes back up to warrant bigger stadiums. This concludes my posting to you on this topic as far as corresponding to you.
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No one wants to play state title games in a rinky dink high school stadium. It's an event which deserves a large stage.
 
cincifbfan said:
Thanks for telling me according to your map the center would be in the upper right quadrant, that doesn't mean it's closer to Canton. See, a quadrant actually starts IN THE MIDDLE MOST POINT. Your center of population is still closer to Columbus, no matter what math you use.

Conneaut to Columbus is 207 miles.

Every single high school inside the 275 loop in SW Ohio is further than that, and most schools outside of that loop in Greater Cincy are too.

Edon Northwest High school is further.

Schools in southern Ohio are further too like Chesapeake.

Again, you are 💯 wrong on everything you have stated.
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You are utilizing the mileage of the fastest route, not the actual amount of miles from point A to point B in either straight line distance or the shortest route. Cincinnati to Canton is actually only 177 miles using the shortest possible route by miles, Conneaut to Columbus is 207 miles using the shortest possible route by mileage. Mind you the shortest route by mileage to Canton would not be advisable because there would be a million red lights and stop signs and low speed limits.

But you are still missing what I have said like 3 times, if you add up the mileage from every school to Canton and compare it to the mileage of every school to Columbus, the mileage to Canton is a lower number.
 
simkon said:
You are utilizing the mileage of the fastest route, not the actual amount of miles from point A to point B in either straight line distance or the shortest route. Cincinnati to Canton is actually only 177 miles using the shortest possible route by miles, Conneaut to Columbus is 207 miles using the shortest possible route by mileage. Mind you the shortest route by mileage to Canton would not be advisable because there would be a million red lights and stop signs and low speed limits.

But you are still missing what I have said like 3 times, if you add up the mileage from every school to Canton and compare it to the mileage of every school to Columbus, the mileage to Canton is a lower number.
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Cincinnati to Canton is in no way 177 miles. Ina straight line, no roads, it's 203 miles.

Conneaut to Columbus as the crow flies is 187 miles ina straight line.

Also, there is no way what you keep claiming adding up all the schools distance to Canton vs Columbus.

Your math simply doesn't math again.
 
cincifbfan said:
Also, there is no way what you keep claiming adding up all the schools distance to Canton vs Columbus.

Your math simply doesn't math again.
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If you are so sure of yourself then why don't you make it worth mywhile to type every single school and their mileage to both Tom Benson and the old Crew Stadium or whatever stadium you prefer near Columbus. Perhaps make a wager, I am not going to go through the trouble of retyping it all on here for nothing just to appease one person.

And one thing to keep in mind there are more schools in Northeast Ohio then any other part of the state, they have a lot of smaller schools rather than fewer larger schools like the Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo areas, so this makes things much more biased than if schools were evenly distributed throughout the state and if all schools were of equal size. One thing to recall is oftentimes there are so many schools in Northeast Ohio in a particular division that they are often split between 2 or 3 regions.
 
SVillegrad said:
If people want it at the center of Ohio’s population, Ohio Wesleyan or Arlin in Mansfield are the two biggest in that vicinity that may be big enough to host.

If neither are able/willing to host, then Canton is fine. It's not like title games in other sports are all centrally located.
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I’m with you on your second point. There are arguments to hosted anywhere and everywhere in any sport. Having everything centralize is also not great. The fact they are moving state tournaments to various sites around the state shows a spread and a variety. Way better than everything in one location. Because if you make football, and don’t like driving from say southwest Ohio, you’re in luck, because Basketball is right up the street in Dayton.

There is no perfect solution.
 
Rich Kotite said:
They might not get to play in the Shoe but Ryan Day's team folded faster than a bad Shark Tank deal vs Michigan last year, so there's that. I haven't seen that level of quit since a few of my Bumble dates.

I guess they don't have anything else to do in Licking County or WKRP Radio Dave Land except bring up this expired Preakness Stakes loser of a subject and go to Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken.
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This is a Hall of Fame post right here.
 
I don't think the OHSAA needs to match a stadium to the expected size of the crowd. I am fine with lots of empty seats. Seems better than alternative of selling out and locking some fans out.
 
I would think there are more high schools beyond McKinley and Massillon that could host the games. No matter the size crowd, though, it needs to be a quality stadium with enough parking, restrooms, adequate press box, adequate catering and food, etc. Whatever divison, it is a showcase game that needs to be situated that way, even if only 900 fans show up.
 
Ohio Stadium is too big for HS ball to the point where is takes away from the experience and atmosphere. Canton is probably best choice so leave it as it is.

However, just for the sake of outside the box thinking and hypothetical thought how about rotate it amongst Canton and maybe the MAC (college) schools?

Peden Stadium in Athens is a nice classic stadium with character. Since they’re an FBS school I’m sure the amenities are sufficient enough. Also a relatively modest enough 24K capacity especially in comparison to the shoe. Similar sized stadium to Benson in Canton.
 
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simkon said:
If you are so sure of yourself then why don't you make it worth mywhile to type every single school and their mileage to both Tom Benson and the old Crew Stadium or whatever stadium you prefer near Columbus. Perhaps make a wager, I am not going to go through the trouble of retyping it all on here for nothing just to appease one person.

And one thing to keep in mind there are more schools in Northeast Ohio then any other part of the state, they have a lot of smaller schools rather than fewer larger schools like the Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo areas, so this makes things much more biased than if schools were evenly distributed throughout the state and if all schools were of equal size. One thing to recall is oftentimes there are so many schools in Northeast Ohio in a particular division that they are often split between 2 or 3 regions.
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Why would I waste my time for a loon who thinks Canton or Ashland is the center of population in Ohio? You are the one making up a completely baseless statement that all the schools combined distances is closer to Canton than Columbus. It's quite clear math isn't your thing and I have no idea how or why you keep insisting it is.

You completely made up distances between cities to try to justify your ludicrous assertion.

And for anyone actually wondering where the central most stadium would be geographically, (the center point of ohio) it is Centerburg High school.
 
The worst is when you see Simkon arguing for something you kind of agree with. He has a style that can only be described as middle school gifted. It’s like whatever you call the opposite of persuasive writing.
 
The Wild Card said:
Ohio Stadium is too big for HS ball to the point where is takes away from the experience and atmosphere. Canton is probably best choice so leave it as it is.

However, just for the sake of outside the box thinking and hypothetical thought how about rotate it amongst Canton and maybe the MAC (college) schools?

Peden Stadium in Athens is a nice classic stadium with character. A modest enough 24K capacity especially in comparison to the shoe.
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You can't rotate it through the MAC stadiums because no one wants to pay the money it would cost to use the stadium, the overhead and incidental costs of utilizing any D-I college stadium would be many times greater than most high school venues. It is simply cost prohibitive to have them at most larger venues. There is no law that says the universities have to waive the fees or lower their fees or even put in a bid. Many universities utilizes larger stadiums for other purpose like career fairs and the like and it would conflict with the playoff schedule.
 
cincifbfan said:
Why would I waste my time for a loon who thinks Canton or Ashland is the center of population in Ohio? You are the one making up a completely baseless statement that all the schools combined distances is closer to Canton than Columbus. It's quite clear math isn't your thing and I have no idea how or why you keep insisting it is.

You completely made up distances between cities to try to justify your ludicrous assertion.

And for anyone actually wondering where the central most stadium would be geographically, (the center point of ohio) it is Centerburg High school.
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I never said Canton was the center, I have said multiple times Arlin is the only reasonably sized high school stadium near the geographic center. Centerburg's facilities are grossly inadequate to host.
I never once claimed Canton was the geograpic or population center.
 
EagleFan said:
thehill.com

Each state’s population center, visualized

There isn’t much in Hartville, Mo., a small town of just 613 residents on the Gasconade River. A few restaurants sit on Main Street, a super market and a Dollar General on West Rolla Street — and, …
thehill.com thehill.com
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Harmony Township is roughly 1 hour from Columbus and 1 hour and 15 minutes from Canton. So Canton and Columbus are roughly equally as far away from the population center.
 
Geez....

I wonder if this will finally be the thread that causes the finals to be played at Miami, Bowling Green, Athens, Nippert, Paycor, InfoCision, OSU, Upper Arlington ...... solely because they exist?
 
simkon said:
You can't rotate it through the MAC stadiums because no one wants to pay the money it would cost to use the stadium, the overhead and incidental costs of utilizing any D-I college stadium would be many times greater than most high school venues. It is simply cost prohibitive to have them at most larger venues. There is no law that says the universities have to waive the fees or lower their fees or even put in a bid. Many universities utilizes larger stadiums for other purpose like career fairs and the like and it would conflict with the playoff schedule.
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I have a feeling Peden Stadium doesn’t get much use outside of Ohio Bobcat football games and maybe graduation. Maybe a concert? I doubt they would have a career fair in late November/early December outdoors in the stadium when championships are played.

You make a fair point about cost but other states do it so it isn’t exactly an unheard of phenomenon. Virginia plays theirs at Old Dominion’s new stadium (or within the last couple years they did) …..Canton is probably best but I’m also just saying the concept isn’t unheard of either.

I also was just injecting a hypothetical into the conversation. That’s it.
 
AllSports12 said:
Geez....

I wonder if this will finally be the thread that causes the finals to be played at Miami, Bowling Green, Athens, Nippert, Paycor, InfoCision, OSU, Upper Arlington ...... solely because they exist?
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Absolutely. First quarter at Arlin, second quarter at BGSU, etc.
 
AllSports12 said:
Geez....

I wonder if this will finally be the thread that causes the finals to be played at Miami, Bowling Green, Athens, Nippert, Paycor, InfoCision, OSU, Upper Arlington ...... solely because they exist?
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Not going to happen. Grass field and the MLS season starting in February. But Lower.com Field, just for the kvetching about concession and Arena District parking prices.
 
Using the info from the post by @EagleFan that shows the population center at Latitude: 40.438553, Longitude: -82.796902.

Travel distances and times from this specific point to two other specific points in Canton and Columbus that are relevant to the thread,

Ohio Stadium
Fastest time: 41 min, 38.4 miles
Shortest distance: 65 min, 35.7 miles (a route nobody would take)

Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium
Fastest time: 90 min, 94.1 miles
Shortest distance: 120 min, 89.9 miles
 
Here we go I’ve got the plan to end all plans! Hopefully no one has their feathers ruffled too much!
We rotate each year from the following 4 places, University of Toledo, University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, and Kent State.
Since Ohio State doesn’t want it let’s just chop out anyone in Columbus hosting since it’s the most centralized they can easily make it to all of these venues in any of the 4 cardinal directions. And rotating it each year will give some a closer game some years and others a longer one, there’s no great solution to the best place. As it’s been stated teams from down south on the river can make the glamorous long trek to canton and have done it a few times.
And boohoo if a team from NW has to go to Athens one year when the next a NE team has to go SW to Cincinnati and for forth
 
The Wild Card said:
I have a feeling Peden Stadium doesn’t get much use outside of Ohio Bobcat football games and maybe graduation. Maybe a concert? I doubt they would have a career fair in late November/early December outdoors in the stadium when championships are played.

You make a fair point about cost but other states do it so it isn’t exactly an unheard of phenomenon. Virginia plays theirs at Old Dominion’s new stadium (or within the last couple years they did) …..Canton is probably best but I’m also just saying the concept isn’t unheard of either.

I also was just injecting a hypothetical into the conversation. That’s it.
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Not all the MAC schools have large atriums, halls and the like attached to their stadiums so that is a fair point, in the case of the others the main problem is the cost. Someone has to pay for it, colleges and universities aren't charities that operate just for the hell of it, they are in business to make money at the end of the day.
 
Burreaux said:
Here we go I’ve got the plan to end all plans! Hopefully no one has their feathers ruffled too much!
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There is nothing inherently wrong with this plan with 2 exceptions, cost and some stadiums host other university events at stadiums or buildings adajacent to stadiums in conflict with the dates of the playoffs. If you were to utilize either D-II and D-III college venues or larger high school stadiums it would work. High school venues of suitable size include: Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Arlin, Byers, Mollenkoff, Welcome, Fitch, and the Pit. The main issue with these would come down to the press boxes and adequate lighting and facilities for TV broadcast.
 
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