marler1972
05-10-2010, 01:09 PM
Will Cowboys Stadium be the site for UIL football state title games in 2010?
01:04 PM CDT on Monday, May 10, 2010
Column by MATT WIXON / The Dallas Morning News | mwixon@dallasnews.com
Matt Wixon
Archive | E-mail
For the University Interscholastic League's first showcase of football championships this fall, it's fitting that the venue be one of the world's most spectacular stadiums. But until the UIL makes an announcement, we won't know if the parade of state title games will march through Cowboys Stadium.
The chances look good, however. Maybe as good as the images on the enormous video screen that hangs from the stadium roof.
Cowboys Stadium is being considered, UIL athletic director Cliff Odenwald said last week, and he won't go farther than that. But there's reason to believe that at least the Class 4A and 5A Division I and II title games will be played at Cowboys Stadium on Fri., Dec. 17, and Sat., Dec. 18. More title games could join the lineup, but that's part of a complication with the 1A and 2A playoffs that have delayed the UIL's decision about the championship sites.
I'll discuss that complication later, but here are two reasons why Cowboys Stadium could be the site of this year's biggest championship games:
•The UIL wants to rotate its predetermined sites for state championship games among the Alamodome in San Antonio, Reliant Stadium in Houston and Cowboys Stadium. The Alamodome and Reliant Stadium have already played host to 5A championship games.
•The UIL was interested in placing last year's 5A title games at Cowboys Stadium, but it was booked for a Texas-North Carolina basketball game. The dates for UIL championship games are now open at Cowboys Stadium.
So when will the UIL announce a site or sites?
It will be later this month or early in the summer. The sites can't be finalized until superintendents at 1A and 2A schools decide whether to expand their playoff brackets. That's the complication.
Unlike the larger classifications, 1A and 2A schools will be splitting into two divisions before this season. The current plan is for two teams from each district to make the playoffs, but some 1A and 2A superintendents want three playoff qualifiers per district. That would push the championship games back a week.
With two playoff teams from each 1A and 2A district, the four 1A and 2A title games could join with the 3A Division I championship for a five-game package on Dec. 10 and 11. The same format, with two games on Friday and three on Saturday, could be used the following weekend for the site hosting the 3A Division II and 4A and 5A title games.
"If we had five games one weekend and five games the next weekend," Odenwald said, "we'd want them to be at the same site."
But with three playoff teams from each 1A and 2A district, the UIL will have nine championship games on the final weekend. The only way to play those games at one site would be to start games on Thursday.
That's unlikely, Odenwald said, because of the disruption of school time. So the 1A and 2A games would probably get packaged at another stadium. The 3A Division II game could be part of that lineup, or it could be part of a five-game lineup with the 4A and 5A schools.
Either way, it would be shocking to see the 4A and 5A title games not played at the same site. That's a big reason the UIL decided on predetermined sites instead of the long tradition of allowing the coaches in the championship game to agree on a site.
"The whole purpose of this [predetermined sites] is to promote the game, create more excitement and help people plan for it," Odenwald said. "And it will be good for attendance."
Really good, considering the number of Dallas-area fans who flock to Saturday tripleheaders and quadrupleheaders in the early rounds of the playoffs. With a four- or five-game weekend of championship football drawing fans from around the state, how big could the crowd get?
At least 30,000 fans for the big schools. Maybe 40,000. Maybe even a crowd bigger than the state record of 49,953, which was set in 1977 when Plano played Port Neches-Groves for the 4A title at Texas Stadium.
Whatever the number, Cowboys Stadium will have plenty of room.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND
Given that the UIL wants at least four hours between championship games, here are two potential lineups for title games featuring the largest schools. (3A Division I will not be involved because it finishes the season a week earlier).
SCENARIO 1
Five-game package including 3A Division II
Fri., Dec. 17
3:30 p.m. 3A Division II championship
8 p.m. 4A Division I championship
Sat., Dec. 18
11 a.m. 4A Division II championship
3:30 p.m. 5A Division II championship
8 p.m. 5A Division I championship
SCENARIO 2
Four-game package with only 4A and 5A
Fri., Dec. 17
3:30 p.m. 4A Division II championship
8 p.m. 4A Division I championship
Sat., Dec. 18
3:30 p.m. 5A Division II championship
8 p.m. 5A Division I championship
01:04 PM CDT on Monday, May 10, 2010
Column by MATT WIXON / The Dallas Morning News | mwixon@dallasnews.com
Matt Wixon
Archive | E-mail
For the University Interscholastic League's first showcase of football championships this fall, it's fitting that the venue be one of the world's most spectacular stadiums. But until the UIL makes an announcement, we won't know if the parade of state title games will march through Cowboys Stadium.
The chances look good, however. Maybe as good as the images on the enormous video screen that hangs from the stadium roof.
Cowboys Stadium is being considered, UIL athletic director Cliff Odenwald said last week, and he won't go farther than that. But there's reason to believe that at least the Class 4A and 5A Division I and II title games will be played at Cowboys Stadium on Fri., Dec. 17, and Sat., Dec. 18. More title games could join the lineup, but that's part of a complication with the 1A and 2A playoffs that have delayed the UIL's decision about the championship sites.
I'll discuss that complication later, but here are two reasons why Cowboys Stadium could be the site of this year's biggest championship games:
•The UIL wants to rotate its predetermined sites for state championship games among the Alamodome in San Antonio, Reliant Stadium in Houston and Cowboys Stadium. The Alamodome and Reliant Stadium have already played host to 5A championship games.
•The UIL was interested in placing last year's 5A title games at Cowboys Stadium, but it was booked for a Texas-North Carolina basketball game. The dates for UIL championship games are now open at Cowboys Stadium.
So when will the UIL announce a site or sites?
It will be later this month or early in the summer. The sites can't be finalized until superintendents at 1A and 2A schools decide whether to expand their playoff brackets. That's the complication.
Unlike the larger classifications, 1A and 2A schools will be splitting into two divisions before this season. The current plan is for two teams from each district to make the playoffs, but some 1A and 2A superintendents want three playoff qualifiers per district. That would push the championship games back a week.
With two playoff teams from each 1A and 2A district, the four 1A and 2A title games could join with the 3A Division I championship for a five-game package on Dec. 10 and 11. The same format, with two games on Friday and three on Saturday, could be used the following weekend for the site hosting the 3A Division II and 4A and 5A title games.
"If we had five games one weekend and five games the next weekend," Odenwald said, "we'd want them to be at the same site."
But with three playoff teams from each 1A and 2A district, the UIL will have nine championship games on the final weekend. The only way to play those games at one site would be to start games on Thursday.
That's unlikely, Odenwald said, because of the disruption of school time. So the 1A and 2A games would probably get packaged at another stadium. The 3A Division II game could be part of that lineup, or it could be part of a five-game lineup with the 4A and 5A schools.
Either way, it would be shocking to see the 4A and 5A title games not played at the same site. That's a big reason the UIL decided on predetermined sites instead of the long tradition of allowing the coaches in the championship game to agree on a site.
"The whole purpose of this [predetermined sites] is to promote the game, create more excitement and help people plan for it," Odenwald said. "And it will be good for attendance."
Really good, considering the number of Dallas-area fans who flock to Saturday tripleheaders and quadrupleheaders in the early rounds of the playoffs. With a four- or five-game weekend of championship football drawing fans from around the state, how big could the crowd get?
At least 30,000 fans for the big schools. Maybe 40,000. Maybe even a crowd bigger than the state record of 49,953, which was set in 1977 when Plano played Port Neches-Groves for the 4A title at Texas Stadium.
Whatever the number, Cowboys Stadium will have plenty of room.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND
Given that the UIL wants at least four hours between championship games, here are two potential lineups for title games featuring the largest schools. (3A Division I will not be involved because it finishes the season a week earlier).
SCENARIO 1
Five-game package including 3A Division II
Fri., Dec. 17
3:30 p.m. 3A Division II championship
8 p.m. 4A Division I championship
Sat., Dec. 18
11 a.m. 4A Division II championship
3:30 p.m. 5A Division II championship
8 p.m. 5A Division I championship
SCENARIO 2
Four-game package with only 4A and 5A
Fri., Dec. 17
3:30 p.m. 4A Division II championship
8 p.m. 4A Division I championship
Sat., Dec. 18
3:30 p.m. 5A Division II championship
8 p.m. 5A Division I championship