Championship moves to Houston in 18,19 Canton in 20,21

[AO]

http://www.d3football.com/notables/2017/04/ncaa-d3-cuts-stagg-bowl-ties-to-salem
http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2017-04-18/2019-2022-future-diii-ncaa-championship-sites
Woodforest Bank Stadium- Shenandoah, Texas


Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium - Canton, Ohio

[ITH radio]

So much for the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"....

[Jonny Utah]

So much for the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"....

This has been a discussion on numerous boards, and I for one don't really care that they moved the site.  I would never to go Salem, VA in the late fall for a d3 football game unless Ithaca was playing in the game.  That being said, I'm not going to Houston either.  I might go to Canton though.  That is just me though.  I know Pat and the d3football.com crew loves Salem and I can appreciate their take on the topic, but for your average fan this really doesn't matter to me at all.

[jknezek]

No. I don't think it matters to very many people at all. I agree with that. I also think Canton can provide an amazing experience for student athletes. I think Texas is silly, but who knows what the actual economics looked like? To me, this is a "grass is always greener" type thing. Salem simply got stuck as a long time incumbent until enough people started looking over the neighbor's fence.

[Pat Coleman]

So much for the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"....

This has been a discussion on numerous boards, and I for one don't really care that they moved the site.  I would never to go Salem, VA in the late fall for a d3 football game unless Ithaca was playing in the game.  That being said, I'm not going to Houston either.  I might go to Canton though.  That is just me though.  I know Pat and the d3football.com crew loves Salem and I can appreciate their take on the topic, but for your average fan this really doesn't matter to me at all.

Did you read my take? Maybe you might be surprised at how I covered it.
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2017/04/next-stagg-bowl-host-has-lot-to-live-up-to

[Jonny Utah]

So much for the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"....

This has been a discussion on numerous boards, and I for one don't really care that they moved the site.  I would never to go Salem, VA in the late fall for a d3 football game unless Ithaca was playing in the game.  That being said, I'm not going to Houston either.  I might go to Canton though.  That is just me though.  I know Pat and the d3football.com crew loves Salem and I can appreciate their take on the topic, but for your average fan this really doesn't matter to me at all.

Did you read my take? Maybe you might be surprised at how I covered it.
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2017/04/next-stagg-bowl-host-has-lot-to-live-up-to

No I'm not surprised.  You have always made it clear that you appreciated Salem and the people who ran the championship events.  You even outlined in this piece your article how the people in Salem have made this game into what it is today.  I can appreciate it too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to Salem, VA in December to watch the Stagg Bowl.

I guess my question is this: 
Did the NCAA do this for money? 
The opportunity to make this a bigger game in terms of attendance?  (The attendance figures have remained steady for the last 20 years)
To give other cities a chance?  (was there politics involved?)
To expand the d3 product in areas of the country? (Trying to convince Texas small colleges to join NCAA d3?)

[phil]

Woodforest Bank Stadium is about 30 minutes from downtown Houston and is the home field for The Woodlands High School where my daughter is currently a junior. When she was a frosh on the softball team, she had to attend a regular season game because her team was "running the flags" that night. After moving from New Jersey, this was my first Texas high school football game. The attendance that night was 10,000 ... a sellout. I don't know how this will translate into Stagg Bowl numbers, but the potential is there and The Woodlands High School is only 1 of 3 high schools to use this complex. Also keep in mind that this same site has hosted the NCAA DIII Swimming and Diving Nationals every other year since 2013. The large building in the south end zone is the swimming and diving complex. As far as facilities and location, I can't imagine that Salem could compete – and the NCAA committee was obviously already comfortable with the hosts because of the Swimming & Diving Nationals.

To give you an idea of the hype a regular season high school game gets in these parts (the stadium in the video is Woodforest Bank Stadium): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epYHnxEy7vA

[wally_wabash]

Woodforest Bank Stadium is about 30 minutes from downtown Houston and is the home field for The Woodlands High School where my daughter is currently a junior. When she was a frosh on the softball team, she had to attend a regular season game because her team was "running the flags" that night. After moving from New Jersey, this was my first Texas high school football game. The attendance that night was 10,000 ... a sellout. I don't know how this will translate into Stagg Bowl numbers, but the potential is there and The Woodlands High School is only 1 of 3 high schools to use this complex. Also keep in mind that this same site has hosted the NCAA DIII Swimming and Diving Nationals every other year since 2013. The large building in the south end zone is the swimming and diving complex. As far as facilities and location, I can't imagine that Salem could compete – and the NCAA committee was obviously already comfortable with the hosts because of the Swimming & Diving Nationals.

To give you an idea of the hype a regular season high school game gets in these parts (the stadium in the video is Woodforest Bank Stadium): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epYHnxEy7vA

It'll be an interesting experiment.  I remain skeptical that the area will have an appetite for the Stagg Bowl that comes anywhere close to their appetite for Friday Night Lights (even though the game is probably going to be played on Friday, under the lights).  But we'll see.  I hope it's awesome- the bar has certainly been set high by the city of Salem. 

[phil]

Salem, Va population: 24,000
Greater Roanoke Valley population: 300,000

The Woodlands, TX population 110,000
Harris County population 4,100,000
Montgomery County population 566,000
The stadium is just outside Harris County

This also gives The Stagg Bowl a presence in what will eventually be the third largest city in the USA. Plenty of hotel space and restaurants. George Bush International Airport 20 minutes away. Being a local, I'll be interested to see how this event will be promoted in the upcoming months.

[ITH radio]

Appreciated Pat's retrospective (and perspective) on the move.

I found this on the OAC board and it sounds like it was mostly a facility related move:

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/ncaa-taking-stagg-bowl-and-div-iii-men-s-final/article_8d25888d-cfa6-5157-b87a-d25db9b4fea1.html

Interesting stats on the population. I think if you had the usual suspects like UMHB or Mount U coming to town it would get good coverage from the local press and generate interest from local fans since it's a nationally televised event.

[wally_wabash]

Salem, Va population: 24,000
Greater Roanoke Valley population: 300,000

The Woodlands, TX population 110,000
Harris County population 4,100,000
Montgomery County population 566,000
The stadium is just outside Harris County

This also gives The Stagg Bowl a presence in what will eventually be the third largest city in the USA. Plenty of hotel space and restaurants. George Bush International Airport 20 minutes away. Being a local, I'll be interested to see how this event will be promoted in the upcoming months.

That may also be a catch-22.  Is it a boon for the event to be held in a major metro area...or does the event get drowned out in the background noise of a metro area that is on a D-III island?  And kind of an island on the island situation at that.  This isn't a slam dunk success for Shenandoah.  I hope it works and I hope it's awesome.  There's a lot of work to be done to make that happen though, iyam. 

[phil]

...Interesting stats on the population. I think if you had the usual suspects like UMHB or Mount U coming to town it would get good coverage from the local press and generate interest from local fans since it's a nationally televised event.

UMHB is a three hour drive from here. I know, I have to go there this weekend for a girl's softball tourney. They better not count on UMHB coming to town in order to make this successful, as I doubt the average person in greater Houston could even tell you where UMHB is. What they do have is a major metropolitan area to draw on. What they need is a game plan to promote this.They should be able to draw on coverage from the local Houston NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox TV affiliates during the week leading up to the event.

[HSCTiger74]

...Interesting stats on the population. I think if you had the usual suspects like UMHB or Mount U coming to town it would get good coverage from the local press and generate interest from local fans since it's a nationally televised event.

UMHB is a three hour drive from here. I know, I have to go there this weekend for a girl's softball tourney. They better not count on UMHB coming to town in order to make this successful, as I doubt the average person in greater Houston could even tell you where UMHB is. What they do have is a major metropolitan area to draw on. What they need is a game plan to promote this.They should be able to draw on coverage from the local Houston NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox TV affiliates during the week leading up to the event.

   This, in a nutshell, is the problem. If they don't even know or care that the current national champion is from Texas, and only three hours away, why would they care when teams from Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Oregon show up to play. Plus, it would coincide with the late rounds of the high school playoffs, and we know where the interest will come down in that conflict. While I certainly hope that things go well in Shenandoah, I will be surprised if attendance is significantly higher than Salem (if it is at all).

[Jack Parkman]

...Interesting stats on the population. I think if you had the usual suspects like UMHB or Mount U coming to town it would get good coverage from the local press and generate interest from local fans since it's a nationally televised event.

UMHB is a three hour drive from here.

Dallas is only 3 hours as well.  For the casual D3 fan in the DFW area, driving down to the Stagg Bowl is something that can easily be done and not have to worry about travel. 

I played in Salem when the D3 World Series was there and it was a great event and we enjoyed our time there.  It was moved to WI and from what I understand, it has been run very well in WI but it's now moving to Iowa.  Things change, doesn't mean everyone will think it's the best or right idea, but things change.

[phil]

...Plus, it would coincide with the late rounds of the high school playoffs, and we know where the interest will come down in that conflict.

I don't think the high school playoffs will make a bit of difference. There are 219 high schools in Harris County and another 26 in Montgomery County. Of those 245 high schools in the Houston area, only 1 (The Woodlands) was participating in a state championship football game the weekend of the Stagg Bowl in 2016. In the case of The Woodlands, it was only the second time in school history they made it to the state finals. Traditionally, the Dallas/San Antonio/Austin schools do better at states than the Houston schools.

With a metropolitan area roughly 16x larger than the greater Roanoke area, I would certainly expect more fans than you would see in Salem – especially with good weather. The Houston area has every advantage – the only question I have is how the game will be promoted locally. It will be interesting to watch since I'm sitting here about 15 minutes from the stadium. Across the street you have Cynthia Woods Pavillion – the second highest grossing amphitheater in the world. I'd like to think if they can put 16,500 in there for a Goo Goo Dolls or Heart concert, that at least half that might come out for the DIII National Championship. Fingers crossed.