Championship location…..who is at fault?

[Deputy]

The Georgia kids get to play their championships in the Mercedes Dome. In North Carolina, theirs are spilt between the stadiums at UNC and NC State. In SC, our kids get the thrill of playing at Oliver B Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, or in previous years at Benedict. They should be playing at WB in Columbia. Why aren’t they granted the privilege of playing there? I have heard all of the talk that USC wants to charge so much that the SCHSL can’t afford it. I wouldn’t figure it is a money maker in Georgia, or in NC for those facilities, but they find a way to make it work. The folks in the legislature like to flex their muscles in regards to HS sports from time, to time. And with USC being a state school maybe they could flex their muscles with this. It’s a shame that something can’t be done. Same goes for basketball. Whoever thought it was a good idea to schedule the state championships for Florence? SC looks second rate with how they handle this.

[7timechamps]

The Georgia kids get to play their championships in the Mercedes Dome. In North Carolina, theirs are spilt between the stadiums at UNC and NC State. In SC, our kids get the thrill of playing at Oliver B Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, or in previous years at Benedict. They should be playing at WB in Columbia. Why aren’t they granted the privilege of playing there? I have heard all of the talk that USC wants to charge so much that the SCHSL can’t afford it. I wouldn’t figure it is a money maker in Georgia, or in NC for those facilities, but they find a way to make it work. The folks in the legislature like to flex their muscles in regards to HS sports from time, to time. And with USC being a state school maybe they could flex their muscles with this. It’s a shame that something can’t be done. Same goes for basketball. Whoever thought it was a good idea to schedule the state championships for Florence? SC looks second rate with how they handle this.

Not sure who is completely at fault, but if I'm USC I'm utterly embarrassed those games aren't on our campus every single year. Such a bad look for our state, totally agree!

[clemson97]

The Georgia kids get to play their championships in the Mercedes Dome. In North Carolina, theirs are spilt between the stadiums at UNC and NC State. In SC, our kids get the thrill of playing at Oliver B Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, or in previous years at Benedict. They should be playing at WB in Columbia. Why aren’t they granted the privilege of playing there? I have heard all of the talk that USC wants to charge so much that the SCHSL can’t afford it. I wouldn’t figure it is a money maker in Georgia, or in NC for those facilities, but they find a way to make it work. The folks in the legislature like to flex their muscles in regards to HS sports from time, to time. And with USC being a state school maybe they could flex their muscles with this. It’s a shame that something can’t be done. Same goes for basketball. Whoever thought it was a good idea to schedule the state championships for Florence? SC looks second rate with how they handle this.

The last time the games were played at WB, USC charged the SCHSL over $100,000 to host the games, plus USC gets all concessions. The teams that played in those games had to pay the SCHSL after the games were over to cover all the expenses. When the games are played at Benedict, each participating school gets a check, usually in the neighborhood of $5k. The last time the games were played in Clemson (2011), each school received a check for almost $20,000 because Clemson didn't charge the league anything to host. However, some teams complained about the travel.

A few years ago Clemson went to the Marc AD conference and presented a plan that would have the games rotate between Clemson and USC, and would guarantee each team a minimum of $5k. USC would not get on board with the proposal. So, ultimately, the reason the games are not played at WB is USC's greed.

There was also a proposal a couple of years ago to rotate the games between Furman, SC State, Benedict and the Citadel (Coastal can't host because there's always a chance that they will host their conference championship game that weekend), but it never gained an traction.

[Justafan]

The Georgia kids get to play their championships in the Mercedes Dome. In North Carolina, theirs are spilt between the stadiums at UNC and NC State. In SC, our kids get the thrill of playing at Oliver B Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, or in previous years at Benedict. They should be playing at WB in Columbia. Why aren’t they granted the privilege of playing there? I have heard all of the talk that USC wants to charge so much that the SCHSL can’t afford it. I wouldn’t figure it is a money maker in Georgia, or in NC for those facilities, but they find a way to make it work. The folks in the legislature like to flex their muscles in regards to HS sports from time, to time. And with USC being a state school maybe they could flex their muscles with this. It’s a shame that something can’t be done. Same goes for basketball. Whoever thought it was a good idea to schedule the state championships for Florence? SC looks second rate with how they handle this.

The last time the games were played at WB, USC charged the SCHSL over $100,000 to host the games, plus USC gets all concessions. The teams that played in those games had to pay the SCHSL after the games were over to cover all the expenses. When the games are played at Benedict, each participating school gets a check, usually in the neighborhood of $5k. The last time the games were played in Clemson (2011), each school received a check for almost $20,000 because Clemson didn't charge the league anything to host. However, some teams complained about the travel.

A few years ago Clemson went to the Marc AD conference and presented a plan that would have the games rotate between Clemson and USC, and would guarantee each team a minimum of $5k. USC would not get on board with the proposal. So, ultimately, the reason the games are not played at WB is USC's greed.

There was also a proposal a couple of years ago to rotate the games between Furman, SC State, Benedict and the Citadel (Coastal can't host because there's always a chance that they will host their conference championship game that weekend), but it never gained an traction.

Willie b parking situation also.
Damn shame.

[*Topcat*]

There surely is a better choice than Orangeburg. Good grief!!! Why not use one or two of the nicer Columbia area high school stadiums! Makes no sense. That game crowd last night wouldn't have filled up a small 1A stadium.

[Deputy]

Thanks for explaining the USC greed issue above. As I said, since they like to flex their muscles in regards to sports, the legislature should get involved and force Ray Tanner’s hand. In fact, I remember after Shane Beamer was hired he even stated that he would like to see the games at WB. I know Clemson offered for free. But Clemson isn’t a fair location for anybody from the lower state. A coach has to decide if they can afford a hotel, or if they ride a bus for 4 hours on a game day. And as I said previously, our neighboring states seem to find a way to make it work, yet we make the schools in this state look like second class citizens by making them play in second rate stadiums

[NHSTrojan]

The Clemson travel argument doesn’t hold water in one of the geographically smallest stares in the country. Atlanta is not central to South Georgia and Asheville sure isn’t a short bus ride to UNC. Benedict was a disaster last year. At least SC State can handle the crowd, 4A at Benedict was sold out and parking was atrocious.

I don’t understand why USC won’t get on board. Each HC can make a $100k charitable donation to cover the costs and never notice it to play at USC or Clemson. In fact they could foot the hotel bill.

I would support playing smaller classifications in Columbia every year. Benedict, Spring Valley…wherever. But the adults need to figure this out.

[RamFan]

I liked the location, SCST needs to spend little money updating stuff but that size stadium works great for HS Football

Easy parking and easy in and out of area , right off 26

Went to Willy B few years back for TLH game, they had nice crowd but in stadium that size looked like nobody there


EVERYONE very accommodating there yesterday , I realize it is an older stadium but that is about it.

Did talk with our radio guys and they said pressbox needed some work, elevator quit working and some issues in rest room but nothing major

My understanding was Willy B was charging SCHSL a lot of money plus to me it is somewhat of recruiting tool for USC