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FHSAA Football State Championships moving to Daytona Beach & Tallahassee


Joshua Wilson

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Speaking of South Florida and colleges (or other major places) hosting it, here is what Josh had to say about that on Twitter: 

UF - No availability due to graduation
FAU, UCF - No turf fields; thus out of the running
Tropicana - No availability
Hard Rock - Only could host one game due to scheduling overlaps
FAMU - Just didn't work out, apparently 

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Pahokee’s, Parks and Rec field is getting new field turf. There’s no issue with parking, they usually handle 6-10 teams a weekend. You could park outside the gate and watch the game on your vehicle. Or come inside the gate for the full game experience. Walking distance of Family Dollar, Dollar General, Save-a-Lot, or Marathon...so you don’t have to worry about OVERPRICED food and drinks.

....FHSAA missed a golden opportunity here.

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19 minutes ago, 561_Fan said:

Pahokee’s, Parks and Rec field is getting new field turf. There’s no issue with parking, they usually handle 6-10 teams a weekend. You could park outside the gate and watch the game on your vehicle. Or come inside the gate for the full game experience. Walking distance of Family Dollar, Dollar General, Save-a-Lot, or Marathon...so you don’t have to worry about OVERPRICED food and drinks.

....FHSAA missed a golden opportunity here.

How much seating?

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1 hour ago, 561_Fan said:

FHSAA missed a golden opportunity here.

Keep in mind that stadium operators have to submit paperwork to the FHSAA in order to be considered. 

I know the FHSAA said, for example, they were interested in moving the baseball championships to Steinbrenner Field. Steinbrenner Field said they'd submit the paperwork .... but then never did. Thus, no championships for Steinbrenner Field. 

So, basically, what I'm saying is FHSAA didn't miss out on that -- unless Pahokee submitted the paperwork for consideration. 

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How many states have 3 NFL teams and host 8 major NCAA bowl games?  I don't believe any state can claim that. 

The Colts sponsor the state finals in Indiana, the Allstate Sugar Bowl sponsors the Louisiana state finals, etc etc

https://allstatesugarbowl.org/event/allstate-sugar-bowl-lhsaa-football-championships/

It is just plain baffling that our NFL teams or the Capital One Orange Bowl are not involved with ours.  I would be interested to know if anyone has approached them about such an opportunity.

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1 hour ago, OldSchoolLion said:

How many states have 3 NFL teams and host 8 major NCAA bowl games?  I don't believe any state can claim that. 

The Colts sponsor the state finals in Indiana, the Allstate Sugar Bowl sponsors the Louisiana state finals, etc etc

https://allstatesugarbowl.org/event/allstate-sugar-bowl-lhsaa-football-championships/

It is just plain baffling that our NFL teams or the Capital One Orange Bowl are not involved with ours.  I would be interested to know if anyone has approached them about such an opportunity.

This is an interesting concept! Not sure if it will ever happen in Florida, but its nonetheless an interesting concept. 

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I loved the environment of state finals when they were played at hs stadiums.   But if the games are going to be held in a neutral location, give the kids a thrill and have the finals in a pro stadium. It's likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a kid to play in a big stadium.  Although it may not look pretty to see so many empty seats, HS football is all about the kids.  Do we really think the kids care if the seats are empty?   

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27 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

I loved the environment of state finals when they were played at hs stadiums.   But if the games are going to be held in a neutral location, give the kids a thrill and have the finals in a pro stadium. It's likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a kid to play in a big stadium.  Although it may not look pretty to see so many empty seats, HS football is all about the kids.  Do we really think the kids care if the seats are empty?   

Having a brother who played in an empty college stadium as a high schooler, he said it was disappointing when he was on the sideline and saw so many empty seats. 

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6 minutes ago, Jags904 said:

Having a brother who played in an empty college stadium as a high schooler, he said it was disappointing when he was on the sideline and saw so many empty seats. 

I have no doubt some consider it disappointing, as you say.  I simply wonder if that is how the majority of kids feel today.  In the dinosaur days, we would sell our souls for such an opportunity.  Maybe for kids today, playing in a big stadium is not such a big deal.  I sometimes wonder if anything is a big deal in today's digital age LOL  

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21 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

I have no doubt some consider it disappointing, as you say.  I simply wonder if that is how the majority of kids feel today.  In the dinosaur days, we would sell our souls for such an opportunity.  Maybe for kids today, playing in a big stadium is not such a big deal.  I sometimes wonder if anything is a big deal in today's digital age LOL  

This was before the days of cell phones haha

Now they won so I don’t think he was too disappointed to get a ring but he said it just didn’t feel right during the game. That a state championship game should have the stands packed and it should be the loudest game of the year, not the quietest.

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On 4/5/2019 at 4:44 PM, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Yes you are correct with Gene Cox as I forget about the fairgrounds (since every time I've been there for playoff games it's been during the week of fair so that space isn't available)

 

And while I'm normally at games early I have seen how packed it is during graduation the past 2 years however I do notice that because of how spread out and open the campus is they have a lot of capacity in parking

 

However there is no doubt tiger stadium is much more equipped than citizens field to handle parking as I found out this year when I got in line right before kickoff and the entire parking lot was filled with maybe 3-4k people in stands so if that stadium did hit Max capacity you would have people parked miles out so logistically unless Gainesville wants to build a parking garage near that stadium it will never be equipped to hold a state championship (even though in terms of stands it could work just like the other 2)

 

 

I am glad though that Daytona now hosting 4-8a as now I'm more likely to go to one in near future because of it being more reasonable distance and it is more centrally located than Orlando for the panhandle teams

Look at it on a map... Daytona is further than Orlando for panhandle teams.

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On 4/5/2019 at 4:44 PM, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

I am glad though that Daytona now hosting 4-8a as now I'm more likely to go to one in near future because of it being more reasonable distance and it is more centrally located than Orlando for the panhandle teams

Wow how did I miss this.  Your traveling directions sound like Venicefan about football.  It is about the same distance but Daytona is a few miles farther but depending on traffic could take a few minutes less.

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Everyone's right!  :D  At least according to MapQuest. 

Pensacola to Orlando 452 miles and a travel time of 6:46 (as of right now; I'm assuming Mapquest factors in anticipated rush hour traffic).

Pensacola to Daytona Beach:  447 miles and a travel time of 6:47 (same assumptions). 

Or, as my Dad used to say, "six of one, half dozen of another." 

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1 hour ago, Perspective said:

Everyone's right!  :D  At least according to MapQuest. 

Pensacola to Orlando 452 miles and a travel time of 6:46 (as of right now; I'm assuming Mapquest factors in anticipated rush hour traffic).

Pensacola to Daytona Beach:  447 miles and a travel time of 6:47 (same assumptions). 

Or, as my Dad used to say, "six of one, half dozen of another." 

but did you travel to each stadium?  

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2 minutes ago, badbird said:

but did you travel to each stadium?  

Nah, it would have taken way to much effort on my part to actually find and type in the addresses of each stadium.  :P

I figured "city to city" was good enough to address the issue. 

Bottom line:  it would take a team from Pensacola (and their fans) about seven hours or more to get to either city (and, presumably, either stadium).   Not ideal, but for a "glass is half full" guy, it's still way better than the trip from Pensacola to Miami.  

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