By moving the football championship to Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, in odd-numbered years, the Illinois High School Association has created a buzz not only at the university but in the town as well, which hopes that the proximity of the campus to Chicago and the seven collar counties, where most of the bigger teams are located, will bring an increase in attendance and a positive economic impact on the community, the Daily Herald reports.
Huskie Stadium on the campus of NIU, DeKalb (Rory Finneren/Flickr)
“People have told us for years that if we played some of the Class 5A through 8A games up closer to the population center, we’d get a better turnout,” the paper quoted IHSA executive director Marty Hickman as saying last week. “Well, guess what? We’re going to find out. We believe that’s going to be the case, but we’ll know after next weekend whether that worked out or not.”
The Daily Herald reported that 11 of the 16 teams in the championship games were within a 90-minute drive of DeKalb (see our GOOGLE MAP). The move was caused by the expansion of the Big Ten Conference: the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, now has a football game at home on Thanksgiving weekend every other year, so Memorial Stadium wouldn’t be available for the high school championships in odd-numbered years. The IHSA will still use the U of I in even-numbered years, at least through 2021.
Speaking from a fan’s perspective, I can say Huskie Stadium puts you a little closer to the action than Memorial Stadium. It seats about 25,000, compared to more than 60,000 at Memorial Stadium, and the sense is that you’re definitely part of the games, much more than if you watched on TV.
NIU, with a new practice facility right next to the stadium where players can warm up before their games, is hoping the work they have put in will showcase the university for the thousands of visitors the championships should bring to town on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.
“For NIU, you’re talking about the quintessential recruiting opportunity in general,” NIU athletic director Sean Frazier was quoted as saying. “A lot of these guys are not going to play college ball. Many of their careers will terminate at the end of these games. Maybe they’ll see Northern Illinois as a good place to go to school. It’s a great opportunity to showcase DeKalb and NIU. We’re looking forward to doing that.”
Historical venue-related decisions by the IHSA
The first playoffs for football occurred in 1974. Teams in five classes competed at Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University, Normal. In 1980, the playoffs were expanded to six classes, where they remained until 2001’s expansion to eight classes.
The title games were played at ISU until 1981, when the 5A and 6A title games were played at Dyche Stadium on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston. But in 1985, even the 5A and 6A games moved back to ISU. Then, in 1999, the IHSA moved all the title games to Champaign’s Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois.
In 2002, the IHSA developed the idea of seeding the classes in quadrants based on each school’s location. In other words, the association tried to minimize travel for teams during the playoffs. The central location of Champaign seemed to fit this motive as well, but the reality has been that most of the bigger teams came from the Chicago metropolitan area and a title game in Champaign meant about a three-hour drive for the players and their fans.
Let’s see how this changing venue system works! NIU is definitely closer for the large majority of people participating in the state title games or people who have a vested interest in attending, since the bigger schools are near Chicago. But locating the venue in northern Illinois will worsen the drive for teams like Staunton this year. The school is near St Louis.
