Ohio cities make pitches to host football Championship

[paddio]

Ohio Stadium To Host State Football Finals

By Jeff Svoboda
BuckeyeSports.com
Posted Jul 21, 2010

The Ohio High School Athletic Association split the difference Wednesday afternoon, choosing to award the state's prep football championships to both bidding finalists. Stark County will continue to host the two-day event through 2013, after which Columbus and Ohio Stadium will take over for the 2014 and '15 seasons.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association state football championships are returning to Ohio Stadium.

Just not for a few years.

The body that oversees prep athletics in the state announced its decision today to bring the six divisional title games in two days to Ohio Stadium in 2014 and ’15. The games will continue to be played in the cities of Massillon and Canton in Stark County through 2013.

Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon and Fawcett Stadium in Canton have hosted the prep finals since 1990. Their current contract runs through the 2011 games, and their most recent bid earned them a two-year extension.

What will happen after 2015 remains to be seen. The original bids for this cycle were through 2014.

The two venues have waged a spirited bid campaign. After the committee visited Stark County on June 2, Columbus – whose bid was entered by the Greater Columbus Sports Commission – got the last crack June 8, showing the committee around the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and Ohio Stadium with the help of OSU dignitaries Jim Tressel, Gene Smith and others.

At the time, OHSAA commissioner Dan Ross noted that the Columbus bid – which included all six games at Ohio Stadium as opposed to spread out across three venues in Ohio’s capital, as the last GCSC bid proposed – was a marked improvement and a serious contender.

Ohio Stadium last hosted the championships from 1982 to 1989.

[Bling]

This will kill the Canton-Massilon economy.

[Sack]

This will kill the Canton-Massilon economy.

Ehhh, they can just blame that guy who took his talents to Souf Beach.

[Bling]

This will kill the Canton-Massilon economy.

Ehhh, they can just blame that guy who took his talents to Souf Beach.

Sounds fair enough.