More Stubs, Not Snubs: Limit high school title games to larger stadiums

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

"Leave the coaches in charge of game sites, but restrict their choices to stadiums with at least 20,000 permanent seats. Texas is full of 'em -- pro, college, even a few high school-only facilities."

Ed Cognoski responds:

If DMN wants to change the system, at least propose a solution that would have prevented the problem that is triggering the complaints in the first place. If the DMN's proposal were in place this year, there still wouldn't be enough "stubs". The site for the Highland Park/Marshall game can admit 17,000 fans. Printing 3,000 more tickets still wouldn't meet the demand. Last week's Southlake Carroll/Plano game at Texas Stadium attracted 34,000 fans, and that wasn't even a championship game. Increase the stadium minimum seat count requirement to 50,000 for championship games and set requirements for earlier rounds as well and the proposal may make sense.

By the way, I wish news media would report on the stadium selection process for each game in the playoffs. Fans often are left wondering how a particular site was chosen and which sites were offered and rejected by opposing coaches. Because the coaches obviously believe that such choices can inflence the outcome of the game, fans should be allowed to follow this pre-game action.