OUR VIEWL Corn Palace big enough for state tournaments
March 6, 2013 at 1:14 am in The Daily Republic
This is maddening. We firmly believe Mitchell can host a state girls’ basketball tournament, and we feel it’s time for Mitchell officials to go back to the SDHSAA board and ask, once again, why we aren’t.
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There is a simple solution to this fiasco. Traditionally, games start around noon with and 6 for 2 sessions of two games apiece. Instead, start the first game earlier and have single game sessions instead of 2. In the last 10 years, I haven’t seen half of the seats filled for any games except maybe the championship and that is even rare. By selling tickets for each game and allowing people to pay per game, more people would probably attend. The problem with mitchell is the arrangement. It is difficult to section of tourney tickets by school due to the design. It doesn’t sit well to have an atmosphere of basketball fever for the state athletic association. They like to control the crowd. The corn palace does not lend well to security and crowd control with very little space between the court and the fans nor does it allow the sectioning of the fans by school as stated above and ultimately, the SDHAA just doesnt want to change or adapt out of their comfort zone. However, in my opinion, the tourneys belong to those schools that make up the competition. Mitchell has a right to host and the surrounding schools should have a right to sleep in their own beds, work around the kids games and support their local economy instead of being forced to to to a few venues, take time off and see our community not be allowed to recover commerce, and tax money it has a right to. Nobody is as good a host as Mitchell with the irony being some of the best attended tournaments are in Mitchells prime location in a top ten facility to play and watch a game. Shame on the SDHSAA for expecting midsize communities like ours to spend 30 million for 3 games every 2-3 years. It could just be the money. We would be better off to give the SDHAA the difference in lost tourney tickets than to spend 30 million on a white elephant.
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The SDHSAA:
Organization
All memberships are voluntary. Any high school in the state, whether public, private, parochial, or institutional, if accredited by the South Dakota Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, may become a member of the Association by making formal application that is authorized by its Board of Education and by subscribing to the rules and by-laws of the Association. Membership, once attained, is continuous, provided the local school board enacts the annual resolution authorizing membership, the annual dues paid, and all other requirements are met.
The legislative body of the Association consists of the entire membership which meets once each year. Each member school has one vote whether the voting is done at the annual meeting or by mail ballot. The executive body is the Board of Directors, which is made up of eight members. Five of these shall be superintendents, principals, or athletic/activities directors of member schools, two shall be board of education members of member schools, and one shall be a Native American representative. The Board of Directors meets at least six times each year and is charged with interpreting the Constitution and By-Laws, organizing and directing tournaments and meets, determining penalties and forfeitures for violations of rules, settling disputes, registering sports officials, establishing the state office, and employing an executive director and staff to administer the Association.
So, who are these people to tell, no command, that any town has to build a new facility to have state tournaments? The have tremendous power in the state and to be frank, it’s completely political. It would almost be better to not belong but they would crush you. They are the Grover Norquist of high school athletics in SD.
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