Shenandoah, TX 2018-19 NCAA d3fb championships

[crufootball]

How well did the City of Shenandoah handle the NCAA D-III Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, March 15-18, 2017?  The city also hosted D3 S&D Nationals in 2013 and 2015.

Was that experience something that the city learned it did not want to deal with the NCAA again?

Was the NCAA happy with the community's support of the event, such that the NCAA will no longer favorably receive a bid from Shenandoah for another Championship?

https://www.egovlink.com/public_documents300/shenandoah/published_documents/Communications/2017/NCAA%20Announcement%20REVISED.pdf

not sure if Women's swimming and diving is the same as football.  Good luck to Shenandoah.  I don't wan't the Mount Union players to have two years of sub-par football championships.  An empty stadium is going to look horrible on ESPN if it's Mount vs UW-Whoever or Minnesota team of the year or East region darling.  But the opposite of that is, how much money is a UMHB "home game" going to bring into Shenandoah?

I hope it works and is not too terrible.  D3 deserves better.

Come on.  You have to give it a chance at least.  They deserve people to go into it next year with at least an open mind.

I'll give it a chance, but I'm just reading the tea leaves.  The local support seems to be lacking, and Mount/UW-?/Linfield/East fans are all going to have trouble booking a flight within 4-5 days to Houston.  Seems like trouble. 

Shenandoah should invest in a few thousand purple t-shirts for all of the free tickets that they will be giving away.  Pretty good chance they will blend in with whatever teams are in the game.

Man if this has been you giving it a chance I can't imagine what you would say to something you aren't.

And please explain to me how fans are going to have trouble finding flights into one of the biggest cities in America?  I get it, this is going to cause more people to have to fly but its not like non-crazy fans didn't already have to do that. The Wisconsin schools both had 13ish hour drives to get to Salem so it not like it was a short drive and obviously Linfield fans would probably welcome not having to fly across the entire country.

This may end up being a terrible game, I have no idea, but if a few Mount Union people have to drive to Texas for the game they will be passing up a fairly easy but expensive flight or have to do what a lot of UMHB fans did and drive close to 20 hours each way to get there.

[merlecanlas]

I shouldn't have said finding flights, but rather finding affordable flights in 4-5 days.  Flights will be easy to book, but will it be worth it?

because UMHB fans had to drive far or fly, the rest of D3 should have to for two years?  nah

I will give it a chance, but it's still stupid. 

[Augie6]

I can attest there is no guarantee on weather for the Stagg Bowl.  I played on Augie's 4 championship teams.  The first two years, the Stagg Bowl was in King's Island, OH at the College Football Hall of Fame (prior to it moving a couple of times).  The weather wasn't great either year, but 1984 was particularly bad with 8 inches of snow on the ground and the field was basically frozen for the game.  We were excited to go to Phenix City the next year, but the temp at game time was unusually cold for Alabama, a little under 30 degrees, and the satellite equipment that was to be used to broadcast the game froze up, so the game wasn't carried live on TV.  Regardless of location, weather, or anything else, I have lots of great memories of all of the games.  Playing for a National Championship is what's important, not where it's at. 

[Ralph Turner]

I shouldn't have said finding flights, but rather finding affordable flights in 4-5 days.  Flights will be easy to book, but will it be worth it?

You have 2 (two) major hubs in Houston.  IAH is a hub for Delta Airlines.

IAH  -- airlines  http://www.fly2houston.com/iah/airlines/

HOU (Houston Hobby on the south side of town) is hub for Southwest.

http://www.fly2houston.com/hou/airlines/

You are going to rent a car anyway, Hobby is also an option.

[CruGuy]

There's a whole lot of negativity here about Shenandoah, and most of that probably has to do with the city manager who won the bid moving on and failing to leave behind someone who still had the vision. Obviously this is not Salem, a small town that lives for this game and embraces the players and the game in a very special way.

However, Salem is not Shenandoah either, and this has the opportunity to be the greatest possible experience for D-3 fans if they decide to embrace it. For starters Shenandoah is not really a thing, it's just some lines on a map. This is the Woodlands. The Woodlands has an abundance of luxury hotels (and affordable not luxury hotels), shopping, bars, restaurants, and entertainment. I saw somewhere in this thread, someone was worried about laser tag. The Woodlands has Top Golf, Main Event, multiple full service state of the art movie theaters, a trampoline park, and access to about 50 golf courses that will be playable, you know, because the weather will be warmer than 35 degrees.

IAH is 25 minutes away. As someone who has spent a whole lot of time looking at airport schedules, locations, pricing, and rental cars the last two years, I can promise you it will be easier to book in and out of Houston than it is Salem, if you live more than a 3 hour drive away from Salem.

For all y'all in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, and the North East you really should start planning an epic guy's weekend now, regardless of how your team fares in the playoffs next year. I promise this trip won't disappoint.

[crufootball]

I shouldn't have said finding flights, but rather finding affordable flights in 4-5 days.  Flights will be easy to book, but will it be worth it?

Well again many many fans have had to find similar flights over the years so affordability is usually not much of a concern for the crazy football fan.

As for the fans and if it will be worth the trip, I would be shocked if UMHB allowed there name to be seen in a negative light since it is connected to this event. I know that they were making sure they noticed everything possible this year to prepare for the next two years of hosting the event.

[merlecanlas]

I shouldn't have said finding flights, but rather finding affordable flights in 4-5 days.  Flights will be easy to book, but will it be worth it?

Well again many many fans have had to find similar flights over the years so affordability is usually not much of a concern for the crazy football fan.

As for the fans and if it will be worth the trip, I would be shocked if UMHB allowed there name to be seen in a negative light since it is connected to this event. I know that they were making sure they noticed everything possible this year to prepare for the next two years of hosting the event.

D3 football fans are not the same as FBS or even FCS sort of schools.  I hope Texas makes out in its two years, but the majority of D3 fans are more likely to drive rather than fly.  I'm trying to figure a way out to fly to Texas next year, but how do tailgaters travel?  Fly and go to the game and fly out? how boring

[crufootball]

I shouldn't have said finding flights, but rather finding affordable flights in 4-5 days.  Flights will be easy to book, but will it be worth it?

Well again many many fans have had to find similar flights over the years so affordability is usually not much of a concern for the crazy football fan.

As for the fans and if it will be worth the trip, I would be shocked if UMHB allowed there name to be seen in a negative light since it is connected to this event. I know that they were making sure they noticed everything possible this year to prepare for the next two years of hosting the event.

D3 football fans are not the same as FBS or even FCS sort of schools.  I hope Texas makes out in its two years, but the majority of D3 fans are more likely to drive rather than fly.  I'm trying to figure a way out to fly to Texas next year, but how do tailgaters travel?  Fly and go to the game and fly out? how boring

Wisconsin to Salem is approximately 13 hours
Minneapolis to Salem is approximately 17 hours
Belton to Salem is approximately 18 hours

Did you care how any of these people tailgated?   

[Ralph Turner]

I shouldn't have said finding flights, but rather finding affordable flights in 4-5 days.  Flights will be easy to book, but will it be worth it?

Well again many many fans have had to find similar flights over the years so affordability is usually not much of a concern for the crazy football fan.

As for the fans and if it will be worth the trip, I would be shocked if UMHB allowed there name to be seen in a negative light since it is connected to this event. I know that they were making sure they noticed everything possible this year to prepare for the next two years of hosting the event.

D3 football fans are not the same as FBS or even FCS sort of schools.  I hope Texas makes out in its two years, but the majority of D3 fans are more likely to drive rather than fly.  I'm trying to figure a way out to fly to Texas next year, but how do tailgaters travel?  Fly and go to the game and fly out? how boring

The Woodlands area is a great place to visit. If you are married (or have a significant other), have 'em do some serious "National Championship shopping" in The Woodlands.

https://www.thewoodlandsmall.com/en.html

[thewaterboy]

Question: I read somewhere that UMHB was the "host institution" for the Stagg Bowls to be held in Texas. Is this a thing?

Who was the host institution in Salem?

[Pat Coleman]

Question: I read somewhere that UMHB was the "host institution" for the Stagg Bowls to be held in Texas. Is this a thing?

Who was the host institution in Salem?

It is. The host institution in Salem is the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

[thewaterboy]

Question: I read somewhere that UMHB was the "host institution" for the Stagg Bowls to be held in Texas. Is this a thing?

Who was the host institution in Salem?

It is. The host institution in Salem is the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

Just wondering. Thanks! And I assume when it comes to Canton it'll be Mount Union.

[ADL70]

OAC

[edward de vere]

I predict Shenandoah and UMHB will do a great job with the game and week.

I predict that if UMHB is in the Stagg Bowl attendance will be terrific.

And I predict that if UMHB is NOT in the Stagg Bowl, attendance (or at least PAID attendance) will be awful.

[gordonmann]

The NCAA requires each bidding city to have a Division III college or conference as a sponsor. When we spoke with the folks in Fort Wayne who won the bid to host the men's basketball championships, they mentioned that they submitted multiple bids, but not one for Division II basketball because they couldn't find a local partner.