Opinion: Ohio should rethink long football season (Vindicator)

raider2bearcat said:
I'm not sure if it's just because I'm on mobile but I've never seen an opinion piece that doesn't include a byline. Who wrote this?

The Vindy has fallen off a cliff since I wrote for it, really fell apart after the name was bought out and the original paper folded.
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Vindicator closed up shop a long time ago.

This is just a sad relabeling of the Tribune-Chronicle.
 
If they want 16 per region... let's let teams opt-out. Move everyone up a spot, and give the highest seeds a bye if there's no one to play them.

Say, 10am Sunday on the final weekend of the season. Teams can submit a request to opt-out of the playoffs by then (they could earlier, as well). Everyone else moves up a spot (including #17 into the playoff field). So, every team would have to theoretically opt-out if they don't intend to play. This would also help eliminate the truly heinous one-sided games as the higher seeds get the weekend off.
 
cjb5656 said:
Cut the playoffs back to eight per region with no byes. I wouldn’t be opposed to a return to six divisions, as well.
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Yes. 7 divisions is too many. Less kids playing. Schools merging. So let's expand. That makes zero sense. But we know it's all about the cash cow.
 
Mr. Red Raider said:
Here's a couple of possible ideas that COULD work:

Option A: Having an 8-game regular season games and having the state finals before Thanksgiving weekend. If teams are eliminated after Week 8, they can play up to two games for a total of ten if they choose to. Something like 2020, when eliminated teams played even when the OHSAA playoffs were going on.

Option B: Having a 9-game regular season (starting last week of August), with the state championship ending first week of December.

Option C: Having a 9-game regular season, going back to 8 teams per region, and the state title game before Thanksgiving weekend.

One of the positives of the 2020 season is the state championship game taking place before Thanksgiving weekend.
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Less than 10 is a non starter.
 
Almost Prideful said:
I pay cash also. The streaming of high school games is a net positive IMHO. It helps out families that wouldn't be able to go under normal circumstances. But it makes me wonder, why pay hundreds of dollars to take your family to a Browns/Steelers/Bengals game when you could watch it for free at home? Cheap beer, cheap snacks, and enjoying that perfectly wore-in seat your wife keeps trying to get you to throw away..

*Another beer honey, I'm on a Yappi binge!!
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For the experience of game day. For me anyway its fun to physically go to a game surrounded with fellow fans rooting for the good guys to win. The trip up discussing what might happen in the game, the trip back discussing what did happen in the game, tailgating, the joyous atmosphere walking out of the stadium after a win, the group therapy walking out of the stadium after a loss.

Is it football season yet?
 
doubtme said:
I wonder what the percentage of people in America that pays for $15 dollar or less purchases with cash is...

I know I do, but I don't feel like many do.

I also don't think non cash sales is hurting attendance. I think there are way more options for entertainment than ever before, and more people who have little to no connection to the school anymore and therefore don't go.

Plus I think for some... they don't wanna pay when there are streaming options to watch their schools play. Such as paying 12 bucks to stream the game at home and it would cost them more to pay for their family to get in and watch it at the stadium
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Take 3 hours out of one of your evenings to sell tickets at your local high school playoff event. Any sport. You'll see within the first hour how much frustration and stess is caused by cashless ticketing.
I have sadly witnessed on many occasions older relatives of athletes leave a venue because they didn't have a credit card on them and were unable to enter.
Make Cash King Again.
 
Mr. Red Raider said:
Here's a couple of possible ideas that COULD work:

Option A: Having an 8-game regular season games and having the state finals before Thanksgiving weekend. If teams are eliminated after Week 8, they can play up to two games for a total of ten if they choose to. Something like 2020, when eliminated teams played even when the OHSAA playoffs were going on.

Option B: Having a 9-game regular season (starting last week of August), with the state championship ending first week of December.

Option C: Having a 9-game regular season, going back to 8 teams per region, and the state title game before Thanksgiving weekend.

One of the positives of the 2020 season is the state championship game taking place before Thanksgiving weekend.
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Option C please. Miss the playoffs, pickup a 10th game.
 
bkmk1 said:
Yes. 7 divisions is too many. Less kids playing. Schools merging. So let's expand. That makes zero sense. But we know it's all about the cash cow.
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“Let’s go back to six” in which North Royalton’s week 11 win over Fremont Ross turns into a week 11 loss to St. Ignatius, and Kings gets to play Lakota West or Moeller in the postseason instead of schools far closer to them in enrollment.
 
Starting so early and the 7 start time ( some start even earlier ) ensures a few possibly brutally hot games . This part of the eastern time zone stays light longer and you have a couple games of really hot first half’s for sure . You can play over half your schedule in very warm conditions . Only a small percentage of teams play 15-16 games but I think the 16 team regional can be amended and start a week later . Practice starts Friday where heat indexes will be well into the triple digits across the state . Start devouring mass quantities water right now boys. 😆
 
Oil Filter said:
That would be because football (and frankly, most sports) has gone from being an activity to being a lifestyle. For a whole lot of players, it is the defining experience of adolescence. And for too many adults, they're fine with that.
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Oil filter is alive and well!
 
doubtme said:
I also don't think non cash sales is hurting attendance. I think there are way more options for entertainment than ever before, and more people who have little to no connection to the school anymore and therefore don't go.
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I think the part of non cash sales that may be hurting attendance is the lack of at gate sales and the extra charge being tacked on.
 
CedarBuck92 said:
I think the part of non cash sales that may be hurting attendance is the lack of at gate sales and the extra charge being tacked on.
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I prefer having the option for both since I don't always have cash on me but the ability to know I'm not going to have some "convenience fee" for using my phone is big factor when I'm standing there at the gate.
 
MahoningFan said:
Take 3 hours out of one of your evenings to sell tickets at your local high school playoff event. Any sport. You'll see within the first hour how much frustration and stess is caused by cashless ticketing.
I have sadly witnessed on many occasions older relatives of athletes leave a venue because they didn't have a credit card on them and were unable to enter.
Make Cash King Again.
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I've done it
 
IMHO, every school should have gate sales that accept cash. And offer paper tickets.

Massillon had none of these last year. And so, 45 minutes before the McKinley game, the online ticketing system (which was the only way to show your ticket) went on the fritz. There were hundreds of people standing outside who couldn't pull up their tickets. The only thing the attendants could do was open the gates and let everyone in. Which they did. Who knows how many came in without tickets, because they didn't check any of them.
 
Sykotyk said:
Connecticut (and now apparently Massachusetts) have been doing this. Thanksgiving day is a regular season game. They've historically had games on Thanksgiving so it made sense to keep it.
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Sykotyk said:
To get playoffs in, only three rounds of playoffs, and they condense the playoffs to get them in (yeah, fewer teams, etc, but Ohio could if they wanted to, or just have more divisions). With Thursday being a game day, they play the first round on Tuesday, the second round the following Sunday and then the state titles are the following Saturday.

They do it because, to them, the regular season in the fall and the traditional thanksgiving day games being part of the regular season and not sandwiched around playoff games is far more important.

In 2022, CT played all six of their titles at two sites as tripleheaders. 3 at UConn's Rentschler Field in East Hartford and 3 at Central Connecticut State's Arute Field.

But in Ohio, I don't think OHSAA will ever give up individual tickets per game, multiple days for TV, and the sheer number of playoff spots for playoff games to make money. But it is doable.
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Grew up in Connecticut. Thanksgiving morning rivalry football is a thing. A BIG thing. And somehow, Mom always had the turkey ready by 2:00 pm.
 
Sykotyk said:
Connecticut (and now apparently Massachusetts) have been doing this. Thanksgiving day is a regular season game. They've historically had games on Thanksgiving so it made sense to keep it.
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Elder and Western Hills played a Thanksgiving Day game for decades. How common was this in Ohio pre-1972?
 
Dirteater said:
Option C please. Miss the playoffs, pickup a 10th game.
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Option D.
Gold Bracket tournament
Top 12 teams play for state championship.

Silver Bracket the rest of the teams play for winning that Bracket, call it what you like" guppy pool", but boys would still get to play more football and maybe make some money for someone.
 
VTJGball said:
Option D.
Gold Bracket tournament
Top 12 teams play for state championship.

Silver Bracket the rest of the teams play for winning that Bracket, call it what you like" guppy pool", but boys would still get to play more football and maybe make some money for someone.
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How would you determine top 12? That would get really ugly really fast and teams that could definitely win a state championship would be left out.
 
cincifbfan said:
How would you determine top 12? That would get really ugly really fast and teams that could definitely win a state championship would be left out.
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Top 12 in each region just like they choose Top 16 now per region in each division.
If you have 20 teams in a region, the other 8 play their own little tournament.
 
VTJGball said:
Top 12 in each region just like they choose Top 16 now per region in each division.
If you have 20 teams in a region, the other 8 play their own little tournament.
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Dude. If you're in the bottom 8, those kids would probably rather be in front of an Xbox or busting a move on Mary Lou Smith rather than playing a meaningless game for the old dudes in the stands.
 
VTJGball said:
Option D.
Gold Bracket tournament
Top 12 teams play for state championship.

Silver Bracket the rest of the teams play for winning that Bracket, call it what you like" guppy pool", but boys would still get to play more football and maybe make some money for someone.
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NY Section 6 and Section 5 have something similar. Though, though most of the teams do make the playoffs. Those that don't can qualify for a 'consolation' tournament.

In Section 6, this is the Funke Bowl, named for Charles Funke. Basically, the four best non-playoff teams (if there are four) play in a two round tournament to win the Funke Bowl for each of the five classes. Though, over the years, Class D and Class AA both usually don't have any extra teams to play in it.

And then, if there's any teams that fail to play in the Funke Bowl, OR lose in either the Funke Bowl or Sectional Playoffs, they can play additional games in the three weeks after the regular season as long as they play no more than 10 games overall. What's interesting, is usually these non-playoff, non-Funke Bowl games are played on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Over the years though, there just isn't a huge push to play these games. WPIAL in PA also did this for the first round of the playoffs for years (back when WPIAL only let in the top 8 and not top 16), but most years there isn't a single consolation game. Most of these teams just want their season to be over with if they're not in the top 16 in their class.

One notable exception I saw in my years following these other states was Springville Griffith in NY. They were 0-7 and scheduled a Week 8 game against Tonawanda in Tonawanda on a Wednesday night. I went to the game, and it was in the rain, but the team played like it was their championship. They did not want to end the season winless. They lost 14-7 in the rain. Next week, they played at East Aurora/Holland. Also on Wednesday night. They had a lead. But then lost, again, 14-7. Luckily the weather was better. The next week, they schedule a game at Alden.... I didn't go to it. But they also lost. 50-22. But gotta give them credit for trying until the bitter end for the first W of the season.

But that is few and far between now, unfortunately.
 
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