News of Daytona Beach moving in position to host the state high
school football championship series broke late Thursday night and it was
met largely with positive response across the state.
A smaller facility should create a better game-day atmosphere for the players, and Daytona Beach has history in running the state series well. Its 10,000-seat Municipal Stadium has served as the central host to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s championship game six times before (1989-90, 1993-96).
But the questions have been asked for months about Jacksonville’s interest — and the likelihood — that it could make an effort to land the state’s marquee high school event, not only during this cycle, but in the future.
Alan Verlander, the executive director for the JAXSPORTS Council and TaxSlayer Bowl, said the city explored the possibility of bidding on the football event.
But the strain of putting on an eight-game football series at EverBank Field on the heels of two college football games, and during the NFL season, just didn’t make sense.
“I think [Daytona Beach] is the perfect place for it. I think it needs to be played in a stadium where you can feel the vibrance and electricity of a state championship game,” Verlander said. “Certainly we’d love to host one of [the FHSAA’s] premier championship events here. I think we’ve proven we can run major events. We do events here really well. From our standpoint, we have to make sure it makes sense. From a business decision, does it make sense? From a time-of-the-year standpoint, does it make sense?”
As it does with numerous sporting events, both mainstream and niche, the city looked into the possibility of bidding when the FHSAA opened it up. Only two cities —Daytona Beach and Orlando — ultimately submitted bids by the March 11 deadline. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported Thursday that the FHSAA chose Daytona Beach’s bid over Orlando’s. They now have 30 days to finalize terms of the deal to make it official.
What swayed Jacksonville from bidding during this cycle was a combination of factors — time and site constraints were key, as well as the financial aspect, Verlander said.
There was just too much planned for EverBank Field in 2016 to make it work.
Jacksonville hosts the Florida-Georgia game on Oct. 29. One week later, EverBank will host Navy vs. Notre Dame. Using last year’s Jaguars schedule as a frame of reference, the team had four home games between Nov. 19 and Dec. 20. Adding either a one- or two-weekend slate of high school games to an already crowded schedule at EverBank wasn’t viable.
And high school football championship games in Florida just don’t draw the amount of fans that you’d expect.
The city did look at one potential option for state football, but came up a few feet short at the Baseball Grounds. Verlander said the Grounds are 108 yards at its longest point, 12 yards shy of the 120 yards needed for a full football field.
A mixed-use facility in the area would be a better venue than EverBank, although there currently isn’t one in the area.
From a capacity standpoint, a smaller venue such as Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach seems more conducive for a better game experience. It serves as the main high school football hub in Volusia County and is Bethune-Cookman University’s home field. The NAIA championship game has also been played there the last two years and will return this year.
Only 12 times in state history, dating to 1963, has a championship game drawn more than 10,000 fans, and the bigger venues tend to feel empty.
During the last three years in Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, games have averaged 3,259 paying fans for each of the eight championship games, a fraction of the 70,000-seat capacity. The Class 2A state championship game in 2013 drew just 717 fans.
“When it comes down to playing eight games on the turf, then you add in that you don’t know when the Jaguars will be scheduled [this season], and the possibility of a playoff game, you just had a lot of games within that time frame,” Verlander said. “When we sit down and talk with people from the city, SMG, the Jaguars, and say, ‘Is this the best use of our facility, what’s the return?’ At the end of the day, we felt for us right now, it wasn’t the right time.”Source-jacksonville
A smaller facility should create a better game-day atmosphere for the players, and Daytona Beach has history in running the state series well. Its 10,000-seat Municipal Stadium has served as the central host to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s championship game six times before (1989-90, 1993-96).
But the questions have been asked for months about Jacksonville’s interest — and the likelihood — that it could make an effort to land the state’s marquee high school event, not only during this cycle, but in the future.
Alan Verlander, the executive director for the JAXSPORTS Council and TaxSlayer Bowl, said the city explored the possibility of bidding on the football event.
But the strain of putting on an eight-game football series at EverBank Field on the heels of two college football games, and during the NFL season, just didn’t make sense.
“I think [Daytona Beach] is the perfect place for it. I think it needs to be played in a stadium where you can feel the vibrance and electricity of a state championship game,” Verlander said. “Certainly we’d love to host one of [the FHSAA’s] premier championship events here. I think we’ve proven we can run major events. We do events here really well. From our standpoint, we have to make sure it makes sense. From a business decision, does it make sense? From a time-of-the-year standpoint, does it make sense?”
As it does with numerous sporting events, both mainstream and niche, the city looked into the possibility of bidding when the FHSAA opened it up. Only two cities —Daytona Beach and Orlando — ultimately submitted bids by the March 11 deadline. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported Thursday that the FHSAA chose Daytona Beach’s bid over Orlando’s. They now have 30 days to finalize terms of the deal to make it official.
What swayed Jacksonville from bidding during this cycle was a combination of factors — time and site constraints were key, as well as the financial aspect, Verlander said.
There was just too much planned for EverBank Field in 2016 to make it work.
Jacksonville hosts the Florida-Georgia game on Oct. 29. One week later, EverBank will host Navy vs. Notre Dame. Using last year’s Jaguars schedule as a frame of reference, the team had four home games between Nov. 19 and Dec. 20. Adding either a one- or two-weekend slate of high school games to an already crowded schedule at EverBank wasn’t viable.
And high school football championship games in Florida just don’t draw the amount of fans that you’d expect.
The city did look at one potential option for state football, but came up a few feet short at the Baseball Grounds. Verlander said the Grounds are 108 yards at its longest point, 12 yards shy of the 120 yards needed for a full football field.
A mixed-use facility in the area would be a better venue than EverBank, although there currently isn’t one in the area.
From a capacity standpoint, a smaller venue such as Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach seems more conducive for a better game experience. It serves as the main high school football hub in Volusia County and is Bethune-Cookman University’s home field. The NAIA championship game has also been played there the last two years and will return this year.
Only 12 times in state history, dating to 1963, has a championship game drawn more than 10,000 fans, and the bigger venues tend to feel empty.
During the last three years in Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, games have averaged 3,259 paying fans for each of the eight championship games, a fraction of the 70,000-seat capacity. The Class 2A state championship game in 2013 drew just 717 fans.
“When it comes down to playing eight games on the turf, then you add in that you don’t know when the Jaguars will be scheduled [this season], and the possibility of a playoff game, you just had a lot of games within that time frame,” Verlander said. “When we sit down and talk with people from the city, SMG, the Jaguars, and say, ‘Is this the best use of our facility, what’s the return?’ At the end of the day, we felt for us right now, it wasn’t the right time.”Source-jacksonville
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