Where is the best place to play state championships?
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The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association announced changes to its traditional championship sites, taking some from the University of Delaware. Where do you think the title games should be played?
Then don’t charge high schools $71,000 to play the games there. It’s that simple. — Nick Fearn
The University of Delaware, which hides money and won’t divulge funding, wants to bad-mouth the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association. Please, hypocrites. — MikeMeg Halter
Delaware State University is centrally located. — Delmarva German Shepherd Dog Club
Having all Delaware sports finals in New Castle County is not fair to Downstate teams. We have good facilities in Kent and Sussex counties that should be used for tourney games, including the finals. Making Downstate athletes travel to New Castle County every year is how the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association ensures that upstate teams have a greater chance to win. A two-hour-plus ride in a school bus is hard on the players, as is getting out of bed early to go get beat by upstate teams and upstate referees/umpires year after year. It is time for Downstate athletic directors to take a stand, refuse to be bullied by the powers that be at the DIAA and demand fairness in the process. — Fred Willey
I don’t disagree. But nowhere Downstate is as big or nice as Delaware Stadium. — Rich Refner
Delaware State University has nice facilities, as does Dover High School, Caesar Rodney, Milford, Cape Henlopen and others. What has gone on year after year is corrupt and needs to be corrected. I have attended many baseball championships at Frawley Stadium, and the stands were far from full. Downstate teams have won, like, two times at Frawley over the last 25 years. Time to make it fair by alternating every year by county, thereby taking the home-field advantage away from the upstate, DIAA-favored teams ! I heard that CR baseball may have won it all last year, if not for home umpires! — Fred Willey
Sorry, Delaware State University has a horrible football stadium. Its stadium is falling apart. I mean, Smyrna has a better stadium than DelState, whose athletic department has let everything go. I’m all for Sussex and Kent, but I have to call you out on saying Delaware State has nice facilities. — John Hutson
Dover High School and Caesar Rodney High School have great facilities! — Fred Willey
Hey, do it like the Super Bowl every year: A different team will host. The real problem is Delaware supporters not flooding the stadium. Most people only attend if their kid’s playing. — Theo Barber
Maybe that’s because they charge $10 a ticket, plus a processing fee. — Shannon Elizabeth
Most students and supporters from Downstate teams can’t afford to travel for two hours to watch their teams play. Gas, meals and ticket prices are just too much. The whole thing is set up to benefit the upstate teams and put money in the DIAA coffers. The Downstate athletic directors need to stand up and refuse to participate in this scam! — Fred Willey
So, charge less, and I would bet they would come back. — Brian Hildick
Who cares what University of Delaware officials want? It is not fair to always have the final games in New Castle County. The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association has rigged this stuff for years to give the upstate teams a home-field advantage. — Fred Willey
If I’m not mistaken, Pennsylvania finals are held in Hershey every year. Is that rigged, too? — Dave Bursler
I do not care what they do in Pennsylvania. When I coached Little League tourney teams, and we had to travel out of Kent County, I would have my pitchers and catchers go in a Cadillac or a Lincoln instead of a school bus! Little League rotates between the three counties in Delaware, and that seems fair for everybody! The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association is giving the upstate teams a home-field advantage, and it knows it! Frawley Stadium is becoming a dump, and the University of Delaware football and basketball stadiums aren’t anything special, either. The schools in Delaware that have the resources to recruit players from wherever shouldn’t even be allowed to play in the public school tourneys. We need divisions that separate public and private schools! If the Downstate schools were smart enough, they would combine the talent to one school, and upstate would never again win a thing! — Fred Willey
You may have a point, but the way you framed it, as though it’s deliberate, is not appropriate. It’s a bunch of kids playing a game for fun and nothing more. It’s highly doubtful that adults are so invested they’re trying to “rig” the outcome. High school sports are in place to teach lessons. If the only lesson is winning, then we are doing sports an injustice. Apparently, parents need to understand this statement more than the kids. — Dave Bursler
