Jump to content
Head Coach Openings 2024 ×
  • Current Donation Goals

    • Raised $2,716 of $3,600 target

Moving Tournament Games


Recommended Posts

15 minutes ago, Bobref said:

No, no! We are not allowed to learn from the experiences in other states. I believe Indiana is a Potawatomi Indian word that means “reinvent the wheel.”

Don't drag the Potawatomi into this ... I'm pretty sure they seeded the lacrosse sectionals. 

Fun fact: When the Jesuits started playing, they were all placed in the same sectional ... I think it was the 28th sectional.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, crimsonace1 said:

That's great. The logistics of hosting a football game are significantly greater than any other sport, due to the number of people, medical staff that have to be on hand, et al. 

At most schools, administrators *must* be on hand to oversee it. Not only that, but you need an army of ticket takers, press box personnel, chain gang, security, et al. Basketball and other sports require a little bit smaller commitment because it's in an indoor facility or (in the case of soccer/baseball), have smaller crowds.

That's a lot to ask of a school, especially if they a) have no chance of ever having a team in that game, and b) there is a possibility your school might be playing elsewhere that same night. 

Schools sign up to host basketball, et al, because they are guaranteed a home-court advantage if they play. They won't be granted the same in a totally neutral football world. 

And from the IHSAA's perspective, going fully neutral means a likely smaller crowd because it's effectively a road game for both teams. 

I’ll say it again - it can be done. The IHSAA and it’s member schools choose not to.  Other states seem to manage those obstacles you identified.

I can buy the idea that schools want to host their sectional to have a home court/field advantage.  I don’t think that reason is as common for events after sectional.  Greenfield-Central, Martinsville, and Frankfort all host 1A or 2A regionals in boys basketball.  All 3 are in different classes and are only guaranteed to NOT have a home court advantage.  Their team could also be playing elsewhere the same day/night.  It’s been a while since a boys basketball team played in a semi-state they hosted.  Many schools enjoy hosting tournament events, very few of which choose to because of a belief that they will have a home court/field advantage.  Seymour, Huntington North, Lafayette Jeff, Washington, Southport, Logansport, Elkhart…not a criticism of their athletic teams, but not many are making deep tournament runs and playing at home.

I do think the IHSAA needs to create a greater incentive for schools to host regional and semi-state events.

If a fully neutral site hurts attendance from the IHSAA’s perspective, why do they play the state finals at Lucas Oil instead of letting schools play at home?  They played the championship games at home sites from 1973-1976.  Football is one of the few IHSAA tournaments that do not play regional and semi-state rounds at neutral sites.  I would like to see that change now that more adequate facilities are available.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

Greenfield-Central, Martinsville, and Frankfort all host 1A or 2A regionals in boys basketball.  All 3 are in different classes and are only guaranteed to NOT have a home court advantage.  Their team could also be playing elsewhere the same day/night.

Case Arena,  one of Indiana's true basketball palaces.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, LuersLurker said:

Luers Field is ready to go!

May be an image of one or more people and outdoors

Where's that DAMN Fitbit between the 40 and 50?  Yawl gonna have to answer to somebody.....

As an aside, that field looks FANTASTIC!  Thanks for the effort to repair it !! 

I need to apologize for one night being the outlier.  

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LuersLurker said:

Luers Field is ready to go!

May be an image of one or more people and outdoors

I don't see the sprinklers going. 😀

Asking for a friend ...

Lord, I apologize for that.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hypothetical neutral site games for regional:

Merrillville/Penn @ LaPorte

Carroll/Westfield @ Marion

Brownsburg/Ben Davis @ Avon

Lawrence North/Center Grove @ Franklin Central

 

Valpo/Michigan City @ Chesterton

Dwenger/Zionsville @ Anderson

Cathedral/New Palestine @ Warren Central

Bloomington South/New Albany @ Columbus North

 

Lowell/New Prairie @ Hobart

Northridge/Mississinewa @ Columbia City

Mount Vernon/Roncalli @ Greenfield Central

East Central/Evansville Memorial @ Martinsville

 

Hanover Central/Mishawaka Marian @ Portage

Norwell/Brebeuf @ Delta

Tri-West/Owen Valley @ Mooresville

Lawrenceburg/Gibson Southern @ Providence

 

Andrean/LaVille @ SB St. Joe

Eastside/Eastbrook @ Homestead

Central Catholic/Scecina @ Lebanon

Triton Central/Mater Dei @ Bloomington North

 

North Judson/Carroll @ Logansport

Adams Central/South Adams @ Bluffton

Parke Heritage/Lutheran @ Cascade

Tri/North Central @ Decatur Central

Edited by HoopsCoach
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, HoopsCoach said:

Hypothetical neutral site games for regional:

Merrillville/Penn @ LaPorte

Carroll/Westfield @ Marion

Brownsburg/Ben Davis @ Avon

Lawrence North/Center Grove @ Franklin Central

 

Valpo/Michigan City @ Chesterton

Dwenger/Zionsville @ Anderson

Cathedral/New Palestine @ Warren Central

Bloomington South/New Albany @ Columbus North

 

Lowell/New Prairie @ Hobart

Northridge/Mississinewa @ Columbia City

Mount Vernon/Roncalli @ Greenfield Central

East Central/Evansville Memorial @ Martinsville

 

Hanover Central/Mishawaka Marian @ Portage

Norwell/Brebeuf @ Delta

Tri-West/Owen Valley @ Mooresville

Lawrenceburg/Gibson Southern @ Providence

 

Andrean/LaVille @ SB St. Joe

Eastside/Eastbrook @ Homestead

Central Catholic/Scecina @ Lebanon

Triton Central/Mater Dei @ Bloomington North

 

North Judson/Carroll @ Logansport

Adams Central/South Adams @ Bluffton

Parke Heritage/Lutheran @ Cascade

Tri/North Central @ Decatur Central

I think for it to really work though, have 2 or 3 games at the same site. Someone mentioned that some fans may stay home for a neutral site game, but I think the difference could be made up if there were options. I would be more inclined to see a couple games in a day at the same site rather than two teams I don’t normally follow playing close by. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Irishman said:

I think for it to really work though, have 2 or 3 games at the same site. Someone mentioned that some fans may stay home for a neutral site game, but I think the difference could be made up if there were options. I would be more inclined to see a couple games in a day at the same site rather than two teams I don’t normally follow playing close by. 

I agree, and that’s what I would do for semi-state.  2 games on Saturday at the same site.  I think there are enough regional games that feature schools who aren’t that far apart that it would create some “out of the way” travel to pair up 2 neutral site games.  Some of these regionals could definitely be paired up and played at the same site on Saturday.

Merrillville/Penn and Valpo/Michigan City

Carroll/Westfield and Dwenger/Zionsville

Some combination of Lawrence North/Center Grove, Cathedral/New Pal, and Roncalli/Mount Vernon

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, HoopsCoach said:

Hypothetical neutral site games for regional:

Merrillville/Penn @ LaPorte

Carroll/Westfield @ Marion

Brownsburg/Ben Davis @ Avon

Lawrence North/Center Grove @ Franklin Central

 

Valpo/Michigan City @ Chesterton

Dwenger/Zionsville @ Anderson

Cathedral/New Palestine @ Warren Central

Bloomington South/New Albany @ Columbus North

 

Lowell/New Prairie @ Hobart

Northridge/Mississinewa @ Columbia City

Mount Vernon/Roncalli @ Greenfield Central

East Central/Evansville Memorial @ Martinsville

 

Hanover Central/Mishawaka Marian @ Portage

Norwell/Brebeuf @ Delta

Tri-West/Owen Valley @ Mooresville

Lawrenceburg/Gibson Southern @ Providence

 

Andrean/LaVille @ SB St. Joe

Eastside/Eastbrook @ Homestead

Central Catholic/Scecina @ Lebanon

Triton Central/Mater Dei @ Bloomington North

 

North Judson/Carroll @ Logansport

Adams Central/South Adams @ Bluffton

Parke Heritage/Lutheran @ Cascade

Tri/North Central @ Decatur Central

Interesting take.  Some games, such as  Lawrence North-Center Grove, Lowell-New Prairie, Central Catholic-Scecina are close enough a neutral site isn’t really needed.

Just now, Gipper said:

Interesting take.  Some games, such as  Lawrence North-Center Grove, Lowell-New Prairie, Central Catholic-Scecina are close enough a neutral site isn’t really needed.

Furthermore, I graduated from a Class A school.  Long bus rides were an accepted part of the deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more time - hypothetical neutral sites for semi-state.  2 games at each site, played on Saturday, November 20th.  Games at 1 and 6 (not necessarily in the order listed below), which allows time between games to present trophy, clear locker rooms, fans can tailgate or go grab a meal somewhere, and warmups for game 2.  Nobody with a drive more than 2 hours.

@Elkhart

New Prairie/Northridge

Andrean/Eastside

 

@Warsaw

Brebeuf/Marian

North Judson/Adams Central

 

@Lafayette Jeff

Merrillville/Westfield

Michigan City/Zionsville

 

@Franklin Central

Center Grove/Ben Davis

Indy Lutheran/Tri

 

@Bloomington South

Mount Vernon/Evansville Memorial

Scecina/Mater Dei

 

@Bloomington North

Cathedral/New Albany

Tri-West/Gibson Southern

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

One more time - hypothetical neutral sites for semi-state.  2 games at each site, played on Saturday, November 20th.  Games at 1 and 6 (not necessarily in the order listed below), which allows time between games to present trophy, clear locker rooms, fans can tailgate or go grab a meal somewhere, and warmups for game 2.  Nobody with a drive more than 2 hours.

@Elkhart

New Prairie/Northridge

Andrean/Eastside

 

@Warsaw

Brebeuf/Marian

North Judson/Adams Central

 

@Lafayette Jeff

Merrillville/Westfield

Michigan City/Zionsville

 

@Franklin Central

Center Grove/Ben Davis

Indy Lutheran/Tri

 

@Bloomington South

Mount Vernon/Evansville Memorial

Scecina/Mater Dei

 

@Bloomington North

Cathedral/New Albany

Tri-West/Gibson Southern

Hosting both Evansville schools at same B'town site would bring a HUGE combined crowd from EVV.  Many, if not most, would stay for both games.  Easy < 2 hr drive up 69 for Evv teams, under an hour for Scecina and around 2 hrs for MTV.       Stop.  Making. Sense.  smh

Edited by MDAlum82
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

One more time - hypothetical neutral sites for semi-state.  2 games at each site, played on Saturday, November 20th.  Games at 1 and 6 (not necessarily in the order listed below), which allows time between games to present trophy, clear locker rooms, fans can tailgate or go grab a meal somewhere, and warmups for game 2.  Nobody with a drive more than 2 hours.

@Elkhart

New Prairie/Northridge

Andrean/Eastside

 

@Warsaw

Brebeuf/Marian

North Judson/Adams Central

 

@Lafayette Jeff

Merrillville/Westfield

Michigan City/Zionsville

 

@Franklin Central

Center Grove/Ben Davis

Indy Lutheran/Tri

 

@Bloomington South

Mount Vernon/Evansville Memorial

Scecina/Mater Dei

 

@Bloomington North

Cathedral/New Albany

Tri-West/Gibson Southern

The choices for location seem well thought out.  Illinois, Ohio, Michigan all have teams travel.  I would like to see this really looked at especially when considering he playing surface and the weather especially up north.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/3/2021 at 10:21 PM, HoopsCoach said:

I’ll say it again - it can be done. The IHSAA and it’s member schools choose not to.  Other states seem to manage those obstacles you identified.

I can buy the idea that schools want to host their sectional to have a home court/field advantage.  I don’t think that reason is as common for events after sectional.  Greenfield-Central, Martinsville, and Frankfort all host 1A or 2A regionals in boys basketball.  All 3 are in different classes and are only guaranteed to NOT have a home court advantage.  Their team could also be playing elsewhere the same day/night.  It’s been a while since a boys basketball team played in a semi-state they hosted.  Many schools enjoy hosting tournament events, very few of which choose to because of a belief that they will have a home court/field advantage.  Seymour, Huntington North, Lafayette Jeff, Washington, Southport, Logansport, Elkhart…not a criticism of their athletic teams, but not many are making deep tournament runs and playing at home.

I do think the IHSAA needs to create a greater incentive for schools to host regional and semi-state events.

If a fully neutral site hurts attendance from the IHSAA’s perspective, why do they play the state finals at Lucas Oil instead of letting schools play at home?  They played the championship games at home sites from 1973-1976.  Football is one of the few IHSAA tournaments that do not play regional and semi-state rounds at neutral sites.  I would like to see that change now that more adequate facilities are available.

Any idea of the locations beginning in 77?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/3/2021 at 10:21 PM, HoopsCoach said:

If a fully neutral site hurts attendance from the IHSAA’s perspective, why do they play the state finals at Lucas Oil instead of letting schools play at home?  They played the championship games at home sites from 1973-1976.  Football is one of the few IHSAA tournaments that do not play regional and semi-state rounds at neutral sites.  I would like to see that change now that more adequate facilities are available.

Many of my generation will tell you that the reason they moved the finals to neutral locations (all around Indy if I recall) was because of one game...... the '76 Class 3A title game Carmel @ Valpo.  Dullaghan's aerial attack led by Mark Herrmann was virtual grounded by temperatures in the teens and 30 mph winds.  Valpo prevailed 14-13.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Staxawax said:

Many of my generation will tell you that the reason they moved the finals to neutral locations (all around Indy if I recall) was because of one game...... the '76 Class 3A title game Carmel @ Valpo.  Dullaghan's aerial attack led by Mark Herrmann was virtual grounded by temperatures in the teens and 30 mph winds.  Valpo prevailed 14-13.

I believe that the Carmel/ Valpo game was in 1977 as the 1976 3A final was at CYO Field between Merrillville and Cathedral, the last football game ever played there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/14/2021 at 7:01 PM, tango said:

IHSAA isn't going to want to pay travel for all teams to go to a neutral site. 

The IHSAA already pays mileage for all of the schools that travel to play regional and semi-state games.  They pay $6 per mile, round trip.  It wouldn’t be much of a difference (or cost much more) to pay both schools mileage to go to a neutral site instead of paying one school mileage to drive all the way to their opponent’s school.  Using Mount Vernon/Memorial as an example - they should pay Mount Vernon $2304 (384 miles) to go all the way to Memorial.  If they played at Bloomington South for a neutral site game, the IHSAA would pay Mount Vernon $936 (156 miles) and Memorial $1416 (236 miles).  That would be an additional $48 in mileage paid by the IHSAA.  At $10 per ticket, I think they could sell 5 more tickets to offset that cost.

If the IHSAA was really concerned about mileage reimbursement, they would make their alignment committees do a better job aligning the sectionals and which sectionals feed into certain regionals.  In boys basketball, it’s possible for a school like South Adams or Adams Central to go to North Judson for regional, meanwhile North Newton, Rensselaer, or Winamac would have to go to all the way to Lapel.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...