OT: FCS Championship moving to Nashville

[MooseLodge]

But a high school stadium that nicer than 90 percent of the stadiums used in D2.

Probably should be held at West Texas A&M.

[SW_Mustang]

I don’t broadly disagree with this sentiment because I think the optics of playing at a HS stadium are poor but where would you suggest playing it instead?

Yeah, that's ultimately my gripe with it. I know it's D2 so nobody is really going to care, but since we're on cable again... I just don't like it. And that's not a knock on the stadium/school/community, just the optics.

Ideally we'd find a 10,000-15,000 seat (20,000 absolute max) stadium in the central US (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas). Preferably FCS/FBS or non-football (like Mercy Park was). The two that come to mind are FBS Missouri State and FCS Southeast Missouri State. There's also FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff in that area. Further south in Texas is FBS Sam Houston and a handful of FCS schools like ETAM, SFAU, PVAM, Lamar. DII WTAM like Moose suggested if we're okay with the possibility they may make the championship game.

I don't really want to go too far east from there but I do see a handful of places between LA-GA. West Georgia stands out as a choice. If we want a small stadium in a big destination city, there's Charlotte. Not geographically ideal for DII but... it's there and not being used.

I don't really want to see the game head north of Missouri, but there are the FCS domes of UNI, USD, and NDSU. I see a lot of issues with hosting at any of them, but that is a possibility.

Lastly - this one is way out there, but there are options in Omaha with Charles Schwab Field and Morrison Stadium. Omaha is a massive football dead zone in a very football happy state, so I could see that drawing non-DII fans just for the novelty of it. Granted, there's a lot there logistically and then there's December weather in Omaha. But it would be cool

Just some ideas I came up with.

[SW_Mustang]

Here's what football would look like at Charles Schwab Field. Not bad if there was a way to put the hard cam somewhere in the outfield facing inward. Would look fine on TV. Not a huge fan of football at baseball stadiums personally, but I could get behind a venture in Omaha.

[SW_Mustang]

And Creighton's Morrison Stadium - it's pretty small at a stated capacity of 6,000 people, but with an open concourse there are options to temporarily expand if needed. Honestly would look kinda cool on TV. I could see CU not being on board with it, but it's fun to think about (the Decemeber weather? not so much)

[Purple Mav Man]

Probably should be held at West Texas A&M.

I didn’t think it was allowed to use that field during the playoffs? 😉

[Turbonium]

Probably should be held at West Texas A&M.

Home field advantage would never be an issue if it was at WT at least.

[MooseLodge]

DII WTAM like Moose suggested if we're okay with the possibility they may make the championship game.

You can have a 3 hour look at WT's stadium this Wednesday, 12/18, on ESPNU at 7:30pm.

It's a deluxe place. The press tower and club levels are legit.

[KleShreen]

Here's what football would look like at Charles Schwab Field. Not bad if there was a way to put the hard cam somewhere in the outfield facing inward. Would look fine on TV. Not a huge fan of football at baseball stadiums personally, but I could get behind a venture in Omaha.

Having your national championship on a baseball field is vastly more embarrassing than it being at a high school stadium that is nicer than almost every D2 stadium.

[ctrabs74]

I didn’t think it was allowed to use that field during the playoffs? 😉

Somehow, I doubt it was an issue when the D2 title game was played at Florence for so many years...

Oh, wait, I see what you did there...

[SW_Mustang]

Having your national championship on a baseball field is vastly more embarrassing than it being at a high school stadium that is nicer than almost every D2 stadium.

Absolutely not. Playing through an entire career, and college season, just to end up back at a high school is pretty pathetic. I couldn't care less if the toilets were solid gold and the concessions served caviar - it's a high school. That's sad, and it shows just how much DII is an afterthought to the NCAA.

I remember watching the 2019 game and thinking "Good lord, we're at a high school - there's 3,000 people there, this is awful." Not - "Oh boy! Look at how shiny the bleachers are!"

CSF is at least a college facility. They are going to have far nicer TV production capabilities. Beautiful view of downtown Omaha - staring at the bare infield would suck, but it's my hypothetical so that goes away.

Alas - it's just a hypothetical and not something I'm actually advocating for. I'd rather see the game be played at the DakotaDome, and I don't want to see the game played at the DakotaDome.

[SW_Mustang]

You can have a 3 hour look at WT's stadium this Wednesday, 12/18, on ESPNU at 7:30pm.

It's a deluxe place. The press tower and club levels are legit.

I'd love to get down that way and explore some of the smaller school stadiums. Especially WT.

[bigmrg74]

Honestly what we really need to have happen is one of us hit one of those ridiculous lottery jackpots, and then go take about 40 million there and put that in a briefcase and go shopping around to find a school between the St. Louis and Nashville areas and find one that would be interested in building an on campus domed stadium that sits somewhere between 15 to 25,000 thousand. I'm willing to go in on the project with another one of their alumni or group of alumni, but my main thing is that if D2 requires it we need them to let us use their stadium for the D2 championship game. Figure that 40 million is just seed money to get the ball rolling on a great facility that would have everything that you could ask for broadcasting a game. Wide sidelines for sideline cameras, lights, camara's up in the ceiling. all of that stuff.

[FoothillBison]

Attendance in Texas seems to be much better that in Alabama (when teams not named UNA were playing). I went to the NC last season and it was a great atmosphere and packed crowd for both an Arkansas team and a Colorado team. However, I just couldn't get over the fact of the optics of the situation. Why not move it to the Star in Frisco? Small enough to fill up, and unique enough to get everyone excited.

[Buffalo/Islander Alum]

Having your national championship on a baseball field is vastly more embarrassing than it being at a high school stadium that is nicer than almost every D2 stadium.

This reminded me of watching the Chargers and Falcons games in the 80s early on in the season when the Padres and Braves were still in season.

[SW_Mustang]

Attendance in Texas seems to be much better that in Alabama (when teams not named UNA were playing). I went to the NC last season and it was a great atmosphere and packed crowd for both an Arkansas team and a Colorado team. However, I just couldn't get over the fact of the optics of the situation. Why not move it to the Star in Frisco? Small enough to fill up, and unique enough to get everyone excited.

Did they fix the crumbling concrete they told everyone not to worry about?