UIL To Announce 5A State Title Location Wednesday

[KFDM COOP]

UIL to announce site of Class 5A title games Wednesday

AUSTIN, TX- The UIL will announce the site of the 2006 Conference 5A Division I and Division

II football championships at a press conference to be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26 at the

UIL building in Austin.

Representatives from the UIL, the selected venue and the Football Championship Game Committee

will be on-hand for the announcement and will be available for a question-and-answer session

immediately after the announcement.

December 23, 2006 marks the first time both Conference 5A championship football games will be

played on the same date. In an effort to televise and promote both games, the UIL Legislative

Council approved a measure this past June to hold both games at a designated site for the 2006 and

2007 football seasons.

All interested parties are invited to attend.

San Antonio might get Texas HS Football title games(or not).

This has been talked about quite a bit in the SA area and the Alamodome is actively pursuing having both 5A titile games hosted there.

Here's an article on the subject:

(source mysa.com)

Football: Class 5A title games will share one site

Web Posted: 06/14/2006 01:51 AM CDT

Clint Hale

Express-News Staff Writer

Nearly 11 years ago, then-Roosevelt football coach Bryan Dausin watched nervously as a coin flip determined the location of the Class 5A Division II state championship game.

The Rough Riders won the flip and, because of a home-and-home agreement with Flower Mound Marcus, chose to play for the state title at Alamo Stadium.

Should Dausin, now the coach at Warren, guide his team to the upcoming season's state championship game, such a coin flip — and nervous anticipation — wouldn't be necessary.

The University Interscholastic League announced Tuesday that, beginning this season, the Class 5A Division I and II state championship games will be played at a predetermined site. The site, according to UIL officials, likely will be determined before the season starts.

The site will host the 5A Division I and II state title games in a back-to-back format this season and next, under a two-year trial approved Monday by the UIL's Legislative Council. This season's state title games are scheduled for Dec. 23.

“I knew it was probably headed this way,†said Dausin, who helped lead Roosevelt to the Division II state title and a 16-0 record in 1995. “My concern is how much involvement the UIL will have. Are they going to be running the game, or will that still be up to the schools and the school districts?â€

The UIL says it is not the sole catalyst behind the predetermined sites, which could include the Alamodome, site of four 5A state title games.

The 5A Division I and II games, for the first time, are scheduled for the same day. Since both games are televised, UIL officials did not want to create a scheduling conflict.

The games traditionally had started at noon on consecutive Saturdays in December, with the 32-team Division I playoffs ending one week earlier than Division II's 64-team bracket. That will change this season with the addition of a fourth playoff team from each district (two advancing to each division), adding 32 teams to Division I and extending its playoffs by one week.

With that in mind, TITUS Sports Marketing, which focuses on high school sports, created a proposal that entailed holding both 5A state title games at one site. TITUS arranged a panel discussion Thursday of 25 coaches and athletic directors from the state to discuss the event's potential.

TITUS founder Dave Stephenson previously worked for Host Communications and helped establish the Texas Football Classic, which takes place annually at the Alamodome and has grown to a 10-team field.

“Having two state championships on one day is a lot like having the Texas Football Classic,†Stephenson said. “Once the Classic was off the ground, people saw you could have two or three games on one day and run it effectively.â€

San Antonio again might receive such an opportunity. Smithson Valley coach Larry Hill, who attended Thursday's panel discussion, said indoor stadiums would be favored in the site search. That, Hill said, puts the Alamodome and Houston's Reliant Stadium at the top of the list.

Stephenson did not comment directly on stadium choice but said he is partial to San Antonio, considering his background with the Texas Football Classic.

“San Antonio is the ideal city to host this kind of weekend,†Stephenson said. “The Alamodome is a great facility to start this process. It's really the gold standard for what this should be.â€

Alamodome director Mike Abington said stadium officials would “have their hat in the ring,†and that he supported the idea of designating the site for the 5A state title games.

The UIL Legislative Council also approved the formation of a committee, appointed by the Legislative Council Chair and including members from the Texas High School Coaches Association, Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, 5A coaches and Legislative Council members. After the UIL staff determines the site, the committee will determine game times, ticket prices and reimbursement for travel expenses.

The financial aspects of such a doubleheader are still to be determined.

“That's one of the many issues the championship committee is going to have to iron out,†UIL spokesman Peter Contreras said. “Instead of one game, you now have two. So are they going to clear the facility and treat them as separate games, or do you share an all-day pass and split revenue equally four ways? Then you've got the TV revenue.â€

Contreras said the current model, with the UIL getting 15 percent of the gate and the 85 percent remaining split between the two schools, probably would not change.

Classes A-4A, which send three teams from each district to the playoffs, will continue using a site agreed upon by the championship teams the week before the game. Those classes will be the only ones in UIL sports not to have their championship sites predetermined.

THSCA executive director D.W. Rutledge, a former coach at Judson, said the other four classes could follow 5A's lead.

“When you look at the history of the UIL, that's what it does,†Rutledge said of a potential trickle-down effect. “This makes me think it's certainly a big possibility that something like that could happen.â€

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CHAMPIONSHIP NEUTRALITY HARD TO COME BY

Only 17 of the 32 Class 5A state-championship football games played since 1990 — the first time two titles were awarded in 5A — have been played at sites more than 35 miles from both participating schools. Here are the 15 games in which at least one team (in bold) had a decided home advantage:

1990 Small School: Aldine 27, Arlington Lamar 10 @Astrodome, Houston

1991 Division I: Killeen 14, Sugar Land Dulles 10 @Astrodome, Houston

1993 Division II: Lewisville 43, Aldine MacArthur 37 @Astrodome, Houston

1995 Division II: Roosevelt 17, Flower Mound Marcus 10 @Alamo Stadium

1997 Division I: Katy 24, Longview 3 @Astrodome, Houston

1997 Division II: Flower Mound Marcus 59, Alief Hastings 20 @Astrodome, Houston

1999 Division II: Garland 37, Katy 25 @Astrodome, Houston

2000 Division I: Midland Lee 33, Austin Westlake 21 @Memorial Stadium, Austin

2000 Division II: Katy 35, Tyler John Tyler 20 @Astrodome, Houston

2001 Division I: Mesquite 14, Taft 13 @Alamo Stadium

2002 Division I: Judson 33, Midland 32 @Alamodome

2002 Division II: Southlake Carroll 45, Smithson Valley 14 @Alamodome

2003 Division I: Galena Park North Shore 23, The Woodlands 7 @Rice Stadium, Houston

2004 Division II: Southlake Carroll 27, Smithson Valley 24 @Texas Stadium, Irving

2005 Division II: Southlake Carroll 34, Katy 20 @Texas Stadium, Irving

FAVORITE SITES

Since 1990, nine facilities have hosted the 32 5A state-title games:

Astrodome, Houston: 11

Texas Stadium, Irving: 6

Alamodome: 4

Royal-Memorial Stadium, Austin: 4

Alamo Stadium: 2

Floyd Casey Stadium, Waco: 2

Kyle Field, College Station: 1

Rice Stadium, Houston: 1

Round Rock ISD Stadium: 1

[KFDM COOP]

We'll see how well this turns out.

[NedDog]

I like the idea, as long as they make it a day-long event and not clear the venue between games.

[tvc184]

I can see the problem with a home and home flip that some coaches might take. I can also see a definite problem where a coach picks a small stadium so that the opposing team cannot bring a lot of fans as it could potentially screw over one team. Would WO-S in their title games or PN-G in their most recent title game want to travel to Amarillo or El Paso to play at a stadium with a 500 fan visitor's side? I don't think so. For the final game, everyone wants to have a shot at a nice stadium and a fair chance to bring as many fans as they can.

Picking a so called neutral site ahead of time would solve the crowd problem but you still might hammer one team when it comes to home field advantage. There is a good chance that one of the teams will be from the area of the "neutral" site with the other team coming from a long way off. If the UIL is going to step in, they need to make it fair to both teams and having a pre-set site is not it.

The article specifically mentions that on 15 occasions, one team had a definite home field advantage. This is a quote from the article " Here are the 15 games in which at least one team (in bold) had a decided home advantage:" It then goes on to list those games and wouldn't you know it, the Alamodome is one of the sites where unfair homefield advantage was given to one team. So their solution is to pick that very site as a permanent title game? DUHHH!!

Call me skeptical but this seems like a marketing ploy from Mark Stephenson of TITUS Sports Marketing, not an attempt at fairness. It is only fair is all four teams are coming from a long way from San Antonio, which isn't likely. The article lists the Alamodome as being unfair in four games and then they choose that as a site. Geez.

It is interesting that a marketing company owner defines a problem and wouldn't you know it, he has the solution. The only thing is that he didn't solve the problem, he only created his company a marketing tool.

If the UIL really wants to be fair, they can solve the problem by setting rules for choosing the title game. It should not be rocket science. There are plenty of good stadiums in Texas with pro teams and colleges. Maybe they could come up with a list of acceptable stadiums with enough capacity for a 5A title game. You could be in the Astrodome (if they still use it), Reliant Stadium, Alamodome, Texas Stadium, Kyle Field at A&M, Memorial Stadium in Austin, Jones Stadium at Texas Tech, Floyd Casey Field at Baylor and maybe a couple of others. Those stadiums are far enough apart and large enough that you can easily get two teams to play that do not have a home field advantage.

It would be too easy to say that the championship game has to come from the list of stadiums and has to be a certain distance from the closest finalist. No coach could then force another coach to end up at podunk field that is his backyard and has no visitor capacity. There probably would also need to be a rule that allows a team, at their discretion, to waive the rule. That way, if a team really wanted to play at the Alamodome/Reliant Stadium/etc, even if they gave up the homefield to another school, they could do so. Some teams might rather not worry about it just for the chance play in a pro stadium, no matter the distance or homefield advantage it may give the other team. If they are willing to give up the homefield advantage at their choosing, then let them.

That would solve the problem of capacity for a title game and it would solve the problem of potential home field advantage for one team because of a coin flip.

[KFDM COOP]

Wonder which City they'll pick Wednesday for the first go a round? I would guess San Antonio.

[Guest GoStangs]

My guess is Austin.

[NedDog]

I would concur with the San Antonio site. It is centrally located in the state, they have a domed stadium, and they have shown that they can successfully host an event like this, with the annual kickoff classic.

[KFDM COOP]

San Antonio is what i'm hearing. Waiting on offical word.

[kicker]

San Antonio would make the most geographical sense.