OT: PIAA football moving to Cumberland Valley

[Fightingscot82]

The games don't draw a significant number anyway. They don't have a lot of good options either. Sh*t sandwich situation. Even if they played it at Beaver Stadium, that might raise attendance by 10%.

[jrshooter]

The games don't draw a significant number anyway. They don't have a lot of good options either. Sh*t sandwich situation. Even if they played it at Beaver Stadium, that might raise attendance by 10%.

It didn't the first year of states, and the crowd looked comically small inside a 100,000-seat stadium.

[ctrabs74]

It didn't the first year of states, and the crowd looked comically small inside a 100,000-seat stadium.

You should see Jerr-uh World when Texas holds their 12 state football championship games. This year's UIL State attendance figures:

Wednesday, 12/15
1A-1 (six man, Westbrook vs. May): 3,921
1A-2 (six man, Matador Motley County vs. Strawn): 2,257
2A-1 (Hawley vs. Shiner): 10,103

Thursday, 12/16
2A-2 (Stratford vs. Falls City): 5,002
3A-1 (Brock vs. Lorena): 13,337
3A-2 (Gunter vs. Franklin): 11,700

Friday, 12/17
4A-1 (Stephenville vs. Austin LBJ): 15,366 (first Austin ISD school to reach State since 1973)
4A-2 (Gilmer vs. China Spring): 23,102 (Gilmer is about 2 hours east of Arlington)
5A-1 (College Station vs. Katy Paetow): 12,112

Saturday, 12/18
5A-2 (Dallas South Oak Cliff vs. Liberty Hill): 45,789 (first Dallas ISD school to win State since 1958)
6A-1 (Duncanville vs. Galena Park North Shore): 42,544 (Duncanville is about 20 minutes southeast of AT&T Stadium)
6A-2 (Denton Guyer vs. Austin Westlake): 32,302 (Even though Westlake High has an Austin mailing address, it's in unincorporated Travis County and part of Eanes ISD; Denton Guyer is about 40 minutes north of Arlington)

Note that Duncanville is a short drive on I-20 from Arlington and Denton Guyer is only about an hour north of Arlington, hence the higher crowds on Saturday.

Those small schools from rural Texas barely fill the sideline seating areas along the 100- and 200-levels at AT&T Stadium. I've worked as an usher at AT&T stadium for the past two seasons and can personally attest to how dead AT&T gets when there isn't a team from within an hour or two from DFW or is a state football powerhouse like Gilmer. Those "comically small crowds" at Beaver Stadium is an apt description of the smaller class games in Arlington.

And for those who suggested Heinz Field for PIAA state title games, Heinz can barely draw fans for WPIAL title games (relatively speaking).

[TheBigCat2192]

If a high school stadium is good enough for the D2 national championship then surely the PIAA championship can be played at one too.

[IUPNation]

If a high school stadium is good enough for the D2 national championship then surely the PIAA championship can be played at one too.

McKinney is not your average high school stadium.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

McKinney is not your average high school stadium.

LOL. McKinney is nicer than many D1 stadiums.

[shipfbfan1]

Big news in PA football with Erie Cathedral Prep HC Mike Mischler has resigned and stepped down to retire and spend more time with family.

[Fightingscot82]

Big news in PA football with Erie Cathedral Prep HC Mike Mischler has resigned and stepped down to retire and spend more time with family.

That is big news. His kid is now a QB at Duquesne. He'd probably like to see him play.

[Ship69]

To say high school football used to be a bigger deal years ago is putting it mildly. The Prep Bowl held at Soldier Field between the champions of the Chicago public and Catholic leagues was known for drawing huge crowds. In 1937 attendance for the game between Austin and Leo high schools was 120,000. Austin, the public league champion, won the game behind star running back Bill DeCorrevont, who later played college ball at Northwestern and had a brief NFL career after military service in World War II. The NFL championship between the Bears and Redskins that year drew fewer than 16,000 fans to Wrigley Field.

The Prep Bowls were held in Chicago throughout the '40s, '50s, and '60s and drew a crowd of more than 90,000 on two other occasions.

[CHIP72]

I think you'd run into the old complaint that those locations are too close to participating schools. Plus Heinz and Franklin are both natural turf - we're down to the smallest schools with the least resources still playing on grass.

Franklin Field has artificial turf (and has had non-grass turf for many years).

As it is, Franklin Field wouldn't be a good location because it lacks parking (and people would ***** about it). Villanova Stadium also wouldn't be good because it isn't a very good stadium.

[Ship69]

Franklin Field has artificial turf (and has had non-grass turf for many years).

As it is, Franklin Field wouldn't be a good location because it lacks parking (and people would ***** about it). Villanova Stadium also wouldn't be good because it isn't a very good stadium.

Bucknell actually has a nice stadium and is somewhat centrally located, but I don't have any idea whether it would be practical to hold the event there.

[CHIP72]

Bucknell actually has a nice stadium and is somewhat centrally located, but I don't have any idea whether it would be practical to hold the event there.

I've never attended a game at Christy Mathewson Stadium, but based on comments I've read by fellow fans of Patriot League teams on the Any Given Saturday message board, my impression is that stadium is on the somewhat rundown side. Bucknell has put a lot of its resources into its basketball program (and Sojka Pavilion, opened in the mid-2000s, is a very nice facility; I've attended one game there, albeit in late 2005).

College stadiums that WOULD be good include Goodman Stadium (Lehigh) and Fisher Stadium (Lafayette), both of which are nice facilities, but both are 1) way too far east to work logistically for state championship games and 2) in Goodman Stadium's case, it lacks lights and has a grass field. With Fisher Stadium, 3) parking is fairly limited (there is a garage, but many people, including me, park on nearby streets), though mind you that hasn't proven to be a problem for the annual Easton/Phillipsburg Thanksgiving Day high school game played there every year (and to my knowledge draws a sellout or near sellout crowd every year).

[IUPNation]

To say high school football used to be a bigger deal years ago is putting it mildly. The Prep Bowl held at Soldier Field between the champions of the Chicago public and Catholic leagues was known for drawing huge crowds. In 1937 attendance for the game between Austin and Leo high schools was 120,000. Austin, the public league champion, won the game behind star running back Bill DeCorrevont, who later played college ball at Northwestern and had a brief NFL career after military service in World War II. The NFL championship between the Bears and Redskins that year drew fewer than 16,000 fans to Wrigley Field.

The Prep Bowls were held in Chicago throughout the '40s, '50s, and '60s and drew a crowd of more than 90,000 on two other occasions.

[IUPNation]

Franklin Field has artificial turf (and has had non-grass turf for many years).

As it is, Franklin Field wouldn't be a good location because it lacks parking (and people would ***** about it). Villanova Stadium also wouldn't be good because it isn't a very good stadium.

[iupgroundhog]

I remember the weekend "High School Rundown" being a staple on WPVI. They would go through like 30 games in10 minutes, showing the highlights from game to game. They don't have that anymore? It was very fast, a lot of action because it's Action News. And WPVI invented Action News.