State Championships

[*Topcat*]

This is the football board I know, but, not only is it ridiculous and highly questionable for the football champ games to be moved to Orangeburg, can anyone provide input on how in the world did we get to to the point where the basketball semis and finals are in freaking Florence??? Is the person/people responsible for this just that out to lunch or what? Florence isn't even a reasonable location for the finals. How do we explain playing the upper state finals there? Hopefully the people responsible for this fiasco are getting an earful from a lot of school administrations.

[HoodRoad]

This is the football board I know, but, not only is it ridiculous and highly questionable for the football champ games to be moved to Orangeburg, can anyone provide input on how in the world did we get to to the point where the basketball semis and finals are in freaking Florence??? Is the person/people responsible for this just that out to lunch or what? Florence isn't even a reasonable location for the finals. How do we explain playing the upper state finals there? Hopefully the people responsible for this fiasco are getting an earful from a lot of school administrations.

The simple answer IMO...Money. Yes there are other arenas around but if the SCHSL can't afford to rent them or their schedules conflict you have to go where you can. I don't like it, heck my team played a team from the same community last year and this year we play a team that's only 10 miles away from our school. Some schools have nice gyms but no parking, some have plenty of parking but the gym isn't big enough, etc.

It's also a myth that they bring in a lot of money. Some years, maybe but not always. I hate to use these schools as an example...let's say Carolina boys or girls make the finals, and they're playing St. Joe's or CCES there's no way they will pack an arena or even make a dent in it. Now, on the flip side Greenville vs. Dorman, Ridge View vs. Sumter, or Gray, then that'd most like be a big draw. It sucks for real tho.

[mikey]

I think Dorman for the upperstate would work..easy interstate access ..enough room and parking.. you could clear the gym after each game or charge for a all day pass.not Sure if it would interfere with the cav’s use of the facility. I prefer highest seed at home..

[HoodRoad]

I think Dorman for the upperstate would work..easy interstate access ..enough room and parking.. you could clear the gym after each game or charge for a all day pass.not Sure if it would interfere with the cav’s use of the facility. I prefer highest seed at home..

This makes too much sense so you no it's not gonna happen LOL!!! I've been to Dorman, River Bluff and Chapin, Spring Valley...any of those could host. I was told once by someone at Spring Valley the schools aren't interested because they don't want to ask their volunteers to work those games for free esp if they are making any money off of it. The SCHSL brings their people in to run things, hence all the chaos at state football games, for example and it's just a disaster.

I worry more about safety than anything. My daughter and I walked right into the Florence arena last year, no one stopped us, no metal detector, nothing. We did the right thing and went to the front, from inside, told the ladies what we did and they acted like we were bothering them because they had to stop their conversation to take our money.

[Atown97]

What's so funny about this. We all know it's all about money. But the the previous weekend for wrestling finals at Florence didn't charge a dime for parking. Wasn't a spot even open. They made announcement Saturday morning during Wrestling Championships people parked at Home Depot to move they was going to start towing cars. If they wanted to make more money I think they could have charged for parking. That didn't make sense to me at all What's the difference. Then holding games during school days didn't make much money. I was down for Abbeville semi and finals game. Only school that had A1 turn out for the finals was Walhalla. They bused thier kids there on a Thursday for support. Makes it tough for communities to support a 4pm game on a school day. Abbeville kids had to sign out to make the game. While other schools supported totally. Talked to a cheer parent of Walhalla. They signed a waiver and the students were given transportation. Gotta be a better option of some sort.