Neutral site games

[nenebskers]

In my mind the A-C2 playoffs are much better than the D playoffs for a couple of reasons.

1. Higher quality teams because of the size of the field. Yes there are some dud games each year but overall less teams with losing records or teams with no chance of making it to the next round.

2. Games played on Friday nights

3. Start times of games tend to be 7:00 pm. Only been a handful of 6:00 pm games and I think one or two 5:00 games. 6:00 is easier to swallow and because of darkness this time of the year it doesn't feel so odd. Much better than some of these 2:30 or 4:00 kickoffs that D will do on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday, etc...

4. Class A, and soon hopefully others follow suit, has the higher seeds host. In class B Blair went on the road and knocked off Scottsbluff. Because of this they hosted the higher seeded McCook. McCook knocked off Blair and now hosts top seeded Elkhorn South for a trip to go to Lincoln. So basically, even though Elkhorn South is the top seed in the playoffs, they have to travel 4+ hours to play on the road against a high quality team, but one that did not accomplish as much as they did in the regular season. All of this because Blair beat Scottsbluff in the 1st round. Makes absolutely no sense! Thankfully it sounds like this will be reversed soon!

These may just be my preference. I tend to take a while to get to my main point which is this.......My purpose of this post though is to get your opinions on neutral site games for class A-C2 at the semifinal round. I think this would be possible because of the amount of schools, including colleges, that now have field turf. Schools that just hosted a quarterfinal game that have grass could also be an option. Below are some possible scenarios:

Lincoln East vs Omaha North @ Papillion La Vista South HS
Creighton Prep vs Bellevue West @ Omaha-Burke Stadium

Elkhorn South vs McCook @ Hastings College (not UNK because of 6 man final)
Skutt vs Gretna @ Omaha-Buell Stadium

Kearney Catholic vs Wahoo Neumann @ Seward-Concordia
O'Neil vs Boystown @ Norfolk Memorial Stadium

Wilber Clatonia vs Yutan @ Seacrest Field
Crofton vs Battle Creek @ Wayne State College

I believe all of these stadiums have field turf. Not sure about PLV South though. Thoughts? Main challenge would be when a Lincoln and Omaha school play each other with no middle spot. In my mind you would have to lean towards either Papillion area or Lincoln Seacrest Field if the Lincoln school is the higher seed.

 

[Llama57]

Love the idea, but don't think it would fly because the NSAA would have to rent the facilities. We all know that's not going to happen if it costs them from making more money!!

 

[happytrails3200]

I love how the NSAA is seen as just this overreaching oligarchy that has does nothing but siphon revenue from the schools across the state in an attempt to line their own pockets. Its like they don't do anything in the interest of students or its member schools. I agree that some of their policies seem sort of far fetched, but I don't see any reason to believe that the NSAA's only goal is to see how much money they can make.

 

[SPbObRT]

Lmao, first off the Nsaa wOULD not pay for this, they make so much money on playoff games the way it is, they pay officials a lot less then a regular season game, its a joke, AD'S r embarrassed to pay the stripes

 

[hdendzonecam]

Seacrest should be the site for the finals. So much better venue for HS football than Memorial Stadium. Great Locker rooms and the stadium/parking is set up perfectly. I agree its cool to play at Memorial, but its a cavernous empty stadium on game day when Seacrest would be full and a great atmosphere for a Championship game. Coolest place I've ever coached at by far.

 

[DonlugoQ]

Lmao, first off the Nsaa wOULD not pay for this, they make so much money on playoff games the way it is, they pay officials a lot less then a regular season game, its a joke, AD'S r embarrassed to pay the stripes

Are officials required to accept post season assignments?

 

[UnionStreet77]

I like the idea of neutral site. Iowa has done this for years. I would love to see even cities bid for a package of semifinals like bids are submitted for championships in sports. The major issue i see is the lack of field turf north of the I-80 corridor outside of Norfolk and Wayne. If that was a determining factor we would still have chances of teams west of 81 and north of 80 traveling long distances.

In my mind the A-C2 playoffs are much better than the D playoffs for a couple of reasons.

1. Higher quality teams because of the size of the field. Yes there are some dud games each year but overall less teams with losing records or teams with no chance of making it to the next round.

2. Games played on Friday nights

3. Start times of games tend to be 7:00 pm. Only been a handful of 6:00 pm games and I think one or two 5:00 games. 6:00 is easier to swallow and because of darkness this time of the year it doesn't feel so odd. Much better than some of these 2:30 or 4:00 kickoffs that D will do on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday, etc...

4. Class A, and soon hopefully others follow suit, has the higher seeds host. In class B Blair went on the road and knocked off Scottsbluff. Because of this they hosted the higher seeded McCook. McCook knocked off Blair and now hosts top seeded Elkhorn South for a trip to go to Lincoln. So basically, even though Elkhorn South is the top seed in the playoffs, they have to travel 4+ hours to play on the road against a high quality team, but one that did not accomplish as much as they did in the regular season. All of this because Blair beat Scottsbluff in the 1st round. Makes absolutely no sense! Thankfully it sounds like this will be reversed soon!

These may just be my preference. I tend to take a while to get to my main point which is this.......My purpose of this post though is to get your opinions on neutral site games for class A-C2 at the semifinal round. I think this would be possible because of the amount of schools, including colleges, that now have field turf. Schools that just hosted a quarterfinal game that have grass could also be an option. Below are some possible scenarios:

Lincoln East vs Omaha North @ Papillion La Vista South HS
Creighton Prep vs Bellevue West @ Omaha-Burke Stadium

Elkhorn South vs McCook @ Hastings College (not UNK because of 6 man final)
Skutt vs Gretna @ Omaha-Buell Stadium

Kearney Catholic vs Wahoo Neumann @ Seward-Concordia
O'Neil vs Boystown @ Norfolk Memorial Stadium

Wilber Clatonia vs Yutan @ Seacrest Field
Crofton vs Battle Creek @ Wayne State College

I believe all of these stadiums have field turf. Not sure about PLV South though. Thoughts? Main challenge would be when a Lincoln and Omaha school play each other with no middle spot. In my mind you would have to lean towards either Papillion area or Lincoln Seacrest Field if the Lincoln school is the higher seed.

 

[DonlugoQ]

I like the idea of neutral site. Iowa has done this for years. I would love to see even cities bid for a package of semifinals like bids are submitted for championships in sports. The major issue i see is the lack of field turf north of the I-80 corridor outside of Norfolk and Wayne. If that was a determining factor we would still have chances of teams west of 81 and north of 80 traveling long distances.

Albion and Columbus both have turf.

 

[nenebskers]

Are there any other high schools in Class B and C that has field turf? Winnebago also does but no sure how appealing of a place that would be to play a neutral site game. None the less it is a very nice facility. Keep in mind high schools that just played the week before should have their field available as well. It doesn't necessarily have to be played on field turf.

 

[DonlugoQ]

Are there any other high schools in Class B and C that has field turf? Winnebago also does but no sure how appealing of a place that would be to play a neutral site game. None the less it is a very nice facility. Keep in mind high schools that just played the week before should have their field available as well. It doesn't necessarily have to be played on field turf.

Humphrey also has turf.

 

[hdendzonecam]

I believe Shelby also has turf

 

[Llama57]

Humphrey also has turf.

Never been there, but is Himphrey's set up for 8 man? Or can it be either?

 

[retnuh07]

I am pretty certain that Humphrey's can be used for 11 or 8 man.

 

[hailvictors2]

Central City has turf

 

[LooseCannon]

Never been there, but is Himphrey's set up for 8 man? Or can it be either?

It's set up for 11 man but obviously they are 8 man.

Columbus, Humphrey, Albion, Shelby, Norfolk all have turf.

 

[LooseCannon]

Shelby's turf

Humphrey's turf

Albion's turf

 

[RCCOB]

Aurora and Grand Island High have turf.

 

[nenebskers]

Cost has been brought up as a downfall. If the NSAA didn't use colleges and only used high schools would you be in favor?Not sure how this would be any differant than using high schools for all volleyball and basketball postseason games. If only used for semifinal games for classes A-C2 we're only talking about 8 games. Also, it's not uncommon for basketball district final games at colleges. Wayne State College, Midland Lutheran, and Northeast CC in Norfolk are frequently used. Sport-Sorry but I'm not seeing how this would be some ungodly cost to the NSAA.

Those against why would you not be?

 

[SPbObRT]

Simple. NEN, the NSAA is not going to spend unnessary money from their own pockets to rent venues . they do it for state because they have no other options. If they would go to neutral sites look for admission to be jacked up again. They r all about profits and making cash not about what is best for the teams. Again just my opinion , you can agree or disagree but you asked so I replied.

 

[nenebskers]

Simple. NEN, the NSAA is not going to spend unnessary money from their own pockets to rent venues . they do it for state because they have no other options. If they would go to neutral sites look for admission to be jacked up again. They r all about profits and making cash not about what is best for the teams. Again just my opinion , you can agree or disagree but you asked so I replied.

Not disagreeing, just trying to learn. I guess I'm not understanding. When you say state you mean state tournament in Lincoln, correct? Does the NSAA pay the local high schools and small colleges that host subdistrict and district play? If so, wouldn't this be the same thing?

 

[happytrails3200]

Hold on, bear with me now on this because this idea might be a little too far out there for some of you but, what if the reason that the NSAA hasn't switched to using neutral sights for the playoffs is because every team wants to have a home playoff game at their school at least once in their school's playoff run, resulting in the way it is now. Maybe for some odd, outlandish reason, money is not the sole driver for where the games are held, but instead a "man it would be cool to play in the playoffs at home" sort of thing where the the schools in the NSAA districts all thought that that would be a good idea and voted to have it this way because they liked that idea.

 

[hailvictors2]

Hold on, bear with me now on this because this idea might be a little too far out there for some of you but, what if the reason that the NSAA hasn't switched to using neutral sights for the playoffs is because every team wants to have a home playoff game at their school at least once in their school's playoff run, resulting in the way it is now. Maybe for some odd, outlandish reason, money is not the sole driver for where the games are held, but instead a "man it would be cool to play in the playoffs at home" sort of thing where the the schools in the NSAA districts all thought that that would be a good idea and voted to have it this way because they liked that idea.

If that was the case the schools would get to keep the gate money. It is 100% a money thing. The NSAA doesn't have to pay a rental fee if a member school hosts the game. The NSAA gets the gate from the game.

 

[2010Husker]

If that was the case the schools would get to keep the gate money. It is 100% a money thing. The NSAA doesn't have to pay a rental fee if a member school hosts the game. The NSAA gets the gate from the game.

The NSAA gets 25-35% of the gate and a payment for catastrophic insurance. The schools get 25% for the home team and a little less for the visiting team. Referees are paid from the gate. ADs have no problem and aren't embarrassed paying the referees because the NSAA sets the rate, it is often less then schools are paying referees for a regular season game though.

The concessions income is very important to the host school, especially in smaller schools who may be using that income to help supplement their athletic department.

 

[1000yd.guy]

A home playoff game means the world to any high school football team. Moving it to a neutral site would be a sad deal IMO.

 

[highschoolfootballnut]

Not disagreeing, just trying to learn. I guess I'm not understanding. When you say state you mean state tournament in Lincoln, correct? Does the NSAA pay the local high schools and small colleges that host subdistrict and district play? If so, wouldn't this be the same thing?

They do pay them in a way, the get 35% of gate and that can be a good chunk of change going to only a select few schools every year

 

[clktwr]

I don't know that it is in the best interest of the schools to play at a neutral site. As someone above said, the home team gets the concession money.

I believe that attendance would be higher as a total number when the games are played at one of the home fields. Put simply, I believe there are a lot of people that will drive to their school to watch a game, but won't drive 1 or 2 hours to watch.

 

[runningback43]

If you play at neutral sites, the NSAA will get their chunk, the host will get a chunk and then the two schools playing will receive mileage and if the gate is big enough they will receive a bonus. I have heard that there are a lot of visiting schools receiving more money from playoff games than the home team received.