I have been curious as to why ECU is not a site used for state championships. I realize that its further East but not sure why that matters bc teams in the East have had to travel all the way to Wake Forest University to play. Is the a NCHSAA decision or is it based on what the univerisities say?
ECU championship site
- Thread starter Finish Strong2
- Start date
I am an ECU guy and I think this is a bit ridiculous that it keeps coming up. Let's go totally on central location. The geographic center of NC is about 8 miles south of Siler City. Driving distance from that location...
Aggie Stadium (NC A&T) :50
Kenan Stadium (UNC-CH) :58
Barker-Lane Stadium (Campbell) 1:01
Rhodes Stadium (Elon) 1:03
Carter-Finley Stadium (NCSU) 1:03
O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium (NC Central) 1:12
Wallace Wade Stadium (Duke) 1:13
BB&T Field (Wake Forest) 1:20
Grace Johnson Stadium (UNC-P) 1:40
Jerry Richardson Stadium (Charlotte) 1:57
Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium (ECU) 2:36
Kidd Brewer Stadium (App. State) 2:39
Ernest Spangler Stadium (Gardner-Webb) 3:03
E.J. Whitmire Stadium (WCU) 4:11
Now obviously there are other logistically things to consider such as parking, concessions, seating on both sides of the field being somewhat equal, TV broadcasting considerations, etc. that eliminate some of these locations. In purely geographical consideration, East Carolina is an additional hour and fifteen minutes farther from center than Wake Forest. Would it be neat for me if there were state championship games held in Greenville? Yes, but my liking it doesn't make it right for the kids from Murphy that have to travel 2-3 additional hours for no other good reason. It would be silly to send Pamlico 2.5 hrs beyond Wallace Wade Stadium to play at Kidd-Brewer just to make Appalachian State alums happy. It's not going to stop feeling like a love fest for the ACC schools in our state, but I can understand why it is the way it is.
Aggie Stadium (NC A&T) :50
Kenan Stadium (UNC-CH) :58
Barker-Lane Stadium (Campbell) 1:01
Rhodes Stadium (Elon) 1:03
Carter-Finley Stadium (NCSU) 1:03
O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium (NC Central) 1:12
Wallace Wade Stadium (Duke) 1:13
BB&T Field (Wake Forest) 1:20
Grace Johnson Stadium (UNC-P) 1:40
Jerry Richardson Stadium (Charlotte) 1:57
Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium (ECU) 2:36
Kidd Brewer Stadium (App. State) 2:39
Ernest Spangler Stadium (Gardner-Webb) 3:03
E.J. Whitmire Stadium (WCU) 4:11
Now obviously there are other logistically things to consider such as parking, concessions, seating on both sides of the field being somewhat equal, TV broadcasting considerations, etc. that eliminate some of these locations. In purely geographical consideration, East Carolina is an additional hour and fifteen minutes farther from center than Wake Forest. Would it be neat for me if there were state championship games held in Greenville? Yes, but my liking it doesn't make it right for the kids from Murphy that have to travel 2-3 additional hours for no other good reason. It would be silly to send Pamlico 2.5 hrs beyond Wallace Wade Stadium to play at Kidd-Brewer just to make Appalachian State alums happy. It's not going to stop feeling like a love fest for the ACC schools in our state, but I can understand why it is the way it is.
Asking a 1A school with a very limited budget to travel to a state championship is a lot. Asking fans to travel that far...a lot. I promise you the ADs at those schools care a lot about it.
Similar situation for teams who played in the 80's where teams had to play at the higher seeds Home for the State Title game correct? I have some family members and friends of family who played in such games and traveling from the East to places like Robbinsville (They had plenty of Home games back then lol).
Well that's how it always used to be. East and West would trade back and forth each year which team would host. When I went to Tarboro, the Vikings had to travel to Kannapolis in '84. It would have been nice if that game had been closer to home, but you did what you had to. I like the neutral site format better honestly, and if you are going to have neutral field games, make it as convenient as you can for East and West. Otherwise, what's the point.
I remember my dad telling me when he played for Clinton how the state championship game was at Pisgah when they rotated east/west hosting. I think this was 76’ or 77’
I definitely agree. I love the fact that games are played at Carter-Finley and Kenan Memorial (along with Wallace Wade & BB&T). I would be very interesting to see games being played at a venue such as Elon or Jamieson stadium. With smaller venues I think the atmosphere would be more electric in a way, similar to you guys for a home game down in Tarboro lol.