WHO BELIEVES STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS SHOULD BE IN COLUMBUS.

[datchillicav]

4 hours is not how long is between games. That is how long is between kickoffs. The games are only an hour to an hour and a half apart. I like getting there early and watching warmups. Fans enjoy and have a right to celebrate after a win. The presentation of trophies takes 20 minutes. Most high school teams warm up for about an hour and 15 minutes.

For fan sake, parking/ getting in and out of the stadium would be hectic. They would have to get all the previous games fans out before allowing anyone in unless they made it a double seeion on 1 ticket(which Indiana does for Basketball and it is wonderfully run). They would never do that because then they can't charge people twice. If they did do it tickets would be at least 18 bucks which would suck for the people that just wanna see their team play.

For the teams' sakes it would be impossible to be allowed to celebrate and then the next team warm up unless the games kickoffs were 5 hours apart at least. Even then teams would be hussled in and out of locker rooms. If kickoffs were 5 hours apart you would have to probably play at 10, 3, and 8. Who wants to play at 10? The players would have to be in the locker rooms by 8 or earlier and probably awake by 6. No one wants to play at 10 after being awake at 6. Unless Ohio or Crew Stadium has 4 locker rooms you would have to wait untill people have showered, packed and gone before you can even get into your locker room.

ONE SITE IS A LOGISTICAL IMPOSSIBILITY unless the games are spread over 3 days with 2 each day which may or may not be a good idea. IMO, if it were moved to columbus(which I don't think will or should happen) Crew is the best place even without turf. The 'Shoe would just feel empty and hollow. As someone earlier said about the Schott versus St. John's. It should stay in Stark County untill or if Columbus has two stadiums capable of handling the crowds with an atmosphere condusive to high school football.

[Philos_Finest]

For the teams' sakes it would be impossible to be allowed to celebrate and then the next team warm up unless the games kickoffs were 5 hours apart at least. Even then teams would be hussled in and out of locker rooms. If kickoffs were 5 hours apart you would have to probably play at 10, 3, and 8. Who wants to play at 10? The players would have to be in the locker rooms by 8 or earlier and probably awake by 6. No one wants to play at 10 after being awake at 6. Unless Ohio or Crew Stadium has 4 locker rooms you would have to wait untill people have showered, packed and gone before you can even get into your locker room.

ONE SITE IS A LOGISTICAL IMPOSSIBILITY unless the games are spread over 3 days with 2 each day which may or may not be a good idea. IMO, if it were moved to columbus(which I don't think will or should happen) Crew is the best place even without turf. The 'Shoe would just feel empty and hollow. As someone earlier said about the Schott versus St. John's. It should stay in Stark County untill or if Columbus has two stadiums capable of handling the crowds with an atmosphere condusive to high school football.

Have you been the basketball state tournaments? I have gone every year for the past 11 years. There are 4 games every day in the same location. There is no parking problems & they have about the same attendance that the Football Finals have.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

play the games at 11-3-7. way more than enough time.

[GoChiefs]

Another reason why 4 hours just isn't even time compared to basketball and football..basketball is played in an indoor gymnasium/arena...football is played outside in the stadium...now I don't attend basketball games..but I'd imagine people don't just throw there trash everywhere around like they do at football games...so you have to have time to clean up the stadium before you allow the next games fans in as well.

[Lamont Cranston]

A few thoughts: isn't a 3-day weekend exactly what the boys (and girls) state basketball tourney compromise? 10k in a 100k stadium, eh? Put it this way: the OH$AA would have LOVED to have had 10k at ANY game this year... Or maybe they are happy with the 4k that attended the d2 final? Doubt if these finals are going anywhere though, $tark County has bought and paid for the OH$AA in that regard. If anyone does NOT believe high school sports are headed in a different direction soon, check out how many teams are ranked currently in the USA Today top 25 boys basketball who WON'T play in their state sanctioned tourneys at the end of the season... things are a changin' and not necessarily for the better.

[Howard Cosell]

I think you can already arrange a variety of venues in Columbus. Why not play at the Crew with the stadiumn at Capitol University(TURF) as a backup? Or use all three....Capital for d5 and d6, the Crew for d3 and d4, and the shoe for d1 and d2.....

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

I do.

[85inside]

It all sounds great and romantic. Lets move the games back to central ohio....the soccer capital of Ohio. The thing most dont realize is the amount of volunteers that you need to have to amke this a success. Oh and you have to have some group that is willing to take this undertaking. the Stark county chamber of commerce, along with both stadiums, do a tremendous job of hosting.
the folks who want to actually watch the games (all of them), dont care where the games are played. Attendance figures are down for two reasons:
1. private schools dont draw as big of a crowd on the lower levels and
2. many people now just watch them on TV.

I love the finals and have went for 14 straight years. I will continue to go if they are in Columbus, but will not go if they are in Dayton or Cincinnati. I want the atmosphere to be top notch. There is no better high school venues in Ohio, than Tiger Stadium and Fawcet. I cant wait until next year. What a weekend!

[Paladin]

One other fact often missed is what GEOGRAPHIC region do the teams in the finals come from. Once you look at that, you see another reason why the games are in the NE. There are so many schools in the NE that they all can't be fit in the NE region, so many are assigned to NW and SE. Lo and behold, guess who often wins those regions ?? Stark County schools often win the NW region in D-I. Add in schools like Lousiville ( Stark Co.) winning the SE region in D-II and you quickly see there are a LARGE number of schools physically/geographically in the NE that win OTHER regions that play in the finals in addition to the NE region winners.

If you are looking at who should be accomodated because of how many schools make the finals from a geographic region-- again , its not close as the NE dominates with the number of schools in the finals. But they should be moved to accomodate a handful of fans from a sparse population area of the state with no schools in the finals ??

Please !!

[Philos_Finest]

Add in schools like Lousiville ( Stark Co.) winning the SE region in D-II

And lost their first game to the number 8 seed out of which city?

[FANOSPORTS]

I've been going to the finals since 1989 (the last year in the Shoe) up to and including this year. I'll stay home from now on I believe and watch it on TV like most other's are starting to do. After I got home this year I told my wife (who knows nothing about h.s. football) that I wouldn't be going any more and she said "but you'll miss the thrills you get every year from going" and I just told her emphatically, no I won't. Canton / Massillon is a great place to hold the games but over the years I've just about completely gotten tired of: 1.) The same private / parochial schools going and winning more often than not (and it's getting worse), Mooney and their little brother Ursuline are in no way division 3,4 or 5 type schools (In OHSAA's criteria only). They recruit ALL the talent from the Youngstown area . 2.) A team like Glenville (the Cleveland all-stars) even though they lost to nearby Hilliard (to me, with Coldwater the only 2 "real" regular public schools in the finals) should never be felt sorry for as they were in the Akron,Canton and Cleveland papers on sunday morning because Coach Ginn has done so much to bring these kids to this school and to keep them off the streets, yadda, yadda, yadda. (they even had a piece that Coach Tressel wrote about him), give me a break and those articles almost made me puke. They were completely outcoached and that team never should have lost with the DI talent on that field but in my mind it served them right. 3.) I've talked to a lot of NE Ohio fans (mostly private schools) over the years at these games and they are pretty arogant about their teams and don't mind telling you about it but when you try to explain to them the discrepancies that exist between their schools and other's across the state they turn a deaf ear and don't want to hear it because they know what you're saying is the truth. Then you'll hear them talking amongst each other about which kids transferred from what schools and explaining the problems some of these kids had at their "old" schools and why they had to transfer. 4.) Travel - I'm not adverse to traveling but the schools around the state should have a "neutral" venue to play the State finals in, period. 5.) Too much commercialism, advertising, etc. It seems to me the OHSAA is more worried about "$$$$$" every year now rather than letting this be a "high school" atmosphere where amatuer athletics take place rather than a pro sports money makers dream. Other than what I stated above, I'll still attend a lot of playoffs games probably up through the regionals at neutral fields but the "Finals" will get no more of my money as long as this other stuff goes on because I, for one am getting real tired of the way "real fans and real towns" are being treated. My little bit of money won't hurt the OHSAA but with the attendance getting worse every year, one day they might wake up but I doubt it. Oh well , I've vented enough.

[Westfan]

To me, the finals are a big let down. You play all year at 7 or 7:30 under the lights with a great environment. You get to the finals and you have to play at 11:00 in the morning. To me, that just sucks.

I love high school football. I have no problems driving to Columbus, Logan, or Cincinnati to watch a local team or a good game. A 5 hour drive is rediculous and not possible for me. I know alot of people would at least drive up for 1 day if not both. 5 Hours away makes you feel like you need to stay or watch several games to get your money's worth. So then your out a days work, hotel room, and several meals; not to mention twice as much gas. Basketball is started by then also. So if you have kids, you have to work around that. It just isn't feasible for me to go and I'm sure I'm not the only one like that. Move them to a central location and they'll get better attendance. If they stay where they are, I'll watch on TV.

[Bleeding Red]

One other fact often missed is what GEOGRAPHIC region do the teams in the finals come from. Once you look at that, you see another reason why the games are in the NE. There are so many schools in the NE that they all can't be fit in the NE region, so many are assigned to NW and SE. Lo and behold, guess who often wins those regions ?? Stark County schools often win the NW region in D-I. Add in schools like Lousiville ( Stark Co.) winning the SE region in D-II and you quickly see there are a LARGE number of schools physically/geographically in the NE that win OTHER regions that play in the finals in addition to the NE region winners.

If you are looking at who should be accomodated because of how many schools make the finals from a geographic region-- again , its not close as the NE dominates with the number of schools in the finals. But they should be moved to accomodate a handful of fans from a sparse population area of the state with no schools in the finals ??

Please !!

Please? Seriously????

How many southern Ohio people drive to Canton or Massilon to watch the state finals if there are no local teams playing? Few to none! Think of all the people that would drive a hour and 15 minutes from Cincy to watch the game. They are not going to drive 4 hours to Canton. I would certainly drive from southern Ohio to watch the games.

Put it in Columbus.......you are now centralized and drawing people from across the state to watch the finals rather than catering to the Canton/Akron/Cleveland area.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

paladin, obviously that quadrent of the state has the highest population, so therefore , usually more playoff teams, you can figure that out, but don't make us feel like hicks , because we think it should be centrally located. some feel, that may be one of the reasons there are more state champs from there. surely you are so wise, you've seen some of the officiating. when north. and south collide. i have, but of course ironton has made the playoffs the 3rd most times , in ohio high school football. so who are we down here, to have an opinion, right.

[Paladin]

Bait, I'm just letting you down easy with the some of the reasons why that the games will stay in Stark Co. Thats a fact. This year was typical--

The finals ALL had a NEO team in it and three won in 6 divisions. Thats .500 ( half the teams). Not one region is close to that. Look at the semi-finals & its even worse.

Glenville
Norwalk St. Paul
Mooney
Ursuline
Chagrin Falls
Maple Hts.

[4 HORSEMEN]

The other thing that is pretty dumb about having the Championships in Stark County, is it is the COLDEST part of the state!

Don't get me wrong, I'm no wuse and I like football in the elements, but many people do not. Now obviously there isn't any part of Ohio that is tropical that time of year, but often during the title game you see a bunch of snow, cold, and freezing rain, when the rest of the state is much less harsh.

I remember a couple years ago when Kenton lost in the finals because of all the freezing rain caused their passing offense to grind to a halt. I don't want the elements taken out of the game, but I do want to see teams do what they do in the best possible situation.

[TIGERS90]

What gets me is that so many people keep talking about the fact that it would be a mess somehow if all three games each day were played in Ohio Stadium...people coming in and people going out...traffic nightmare...

I believe this would be true if you tried to do this at a high school stadium such as in Massillon...as the games are played today...however...at Ohio Stadium which seats over 100,000 each game for the Bucks the twenty or thirty thousand who would enter and exit would be no problem..

I believe it is all an argument between what is better for the kids v/s what is better for the pocket...(and who's pocket)...

It is a no brainer that all kids in the state, including the cleveland kids, would much rather play at Ohio Stadium rather than a high school stadium any day...That is a huge thrill to be able to say that you once played your state championship game at Ohio Stadium...not a high school field in cold...dirty...Cleveland...

As far as the MONEY..it's a no brainer..that unless someone is getting paid under the table by certain SPONSORS...that having the game in the MIDDLE of the state would bring in many more fans...and all the kids in the state a chance, as I did when I was little, a chance to see what it's like to watch a state championship in person...NOT ON A TV SET...because the game is too far away to go to...and you would have to make it a vacation just to get there...five hours from our house...to the stadium...v/s two to Columbus..as it is for most people in the state....

Bottom line...unless someone is getting paid off...there really isn't another choice but Ohio Stadium...unless the powers to be are getting paid off...The reason they moved the playoffs back in '90 was because Ohio Stadium went to grass..and the state wanted to play on turf...now Ohio Stadium has turf...what other reason can they give us...?

[GoChiefs]

It is a no brainer that all kids in the state, including the cleveland kids, would much rather play at Ohio Stadium rather than a high school stadium any day...That is a huge thrill to be able to say that you once played your state championship game at Ohio Stadium...not a high school field in cold...dirty...Cleveland...

Ohio Stadium over Fawcett Stadium? The home of the NFL Hall of Fame..the field where many great NFL athletes have graced the same field? I'm not so sure most would say Ohio Stadium. Could be wrong..but IMO..I'd rather play on the same field that the big boys played.

[55buckeyes98]

Ohio Stadium over Fawcett stadium any day. There is only one NFL game played there a year and that is the first pre-season game of the year. Now having the hall of fame there is sweet, but IMO 6 games at Ohio stadium would be a much better drawl of people. I know more people from all over would come just by location... I would... plus I bet Tress wants it back there.

[GoChiefs]

Well..that settles it..let's move it back to Columbus! Tress wants it!