We hear a lot of people complaining about the added travel of playing the championship games at Bowling Green, as compared to Louisville.

 

I wonder, is it that much more when you look at the whole of the issue? Of course, when discussing different venues, obviously, some locations will help some teams and hurt others, so you cannot look at it from any one team's perspective. In order to answer that question, you would need to probably look at the travel for each team at each location, and see what the AVERAGE difference is. And since teams change from year to year, it would be beneficial to do that for a few years and do a comparison.

 

I have looked at the numbers for 2013, and the results are as follows. I used Google Maps, and city to city distance, not specific school addresses.

 

Team: Distance to Bowling Green: Distance to Louisville

 

Mayfield: 159: , 227

Williamsburg 171: 177

DeSales: 114: 0

NewCath: 211: 99

Belfry: 284: 231

Wayne: 104: 154

Highlands: 215: 103

Collins: 135: 31

Bowling Green: 0: 114

Pulaski: 111: 129

Scott Co: 157: 70

Meade: 99: 44

 

Total Distance to Bowling Green 1760

Total Distance to Louisville 1379

 

Difference 381: Divided by 12 teams = 31.75 additional miles per team AVERAGE to Bowling Green vs. Louisville

 

Bowling Green is closer for 5 teams

Louisville is closer for 7 teams

Granted it is a one year sample size, and we need to do more years to get a better picture, but my question is, on average, is 32 additional miles per team significant enough to warrant the complaints?

We hear a lot of people complaining about the added travel of playing the championship games at Bowling Green, as compared to Louisville.

 

I wonder, is it that much more when you look at the whole of the issue? Of course, when discussing different venues, obviously, some locations will help some teams and hurt others, so you cannot look at it from any one team's perspective. In order to answer that question, you would need to probably look at the travel for each team at each location, and see what the AVERAGE difference is. And since teams change from year to year, it would be beneficial to do that for a few years and do a comparison.

 

I have looked at the numbers for 2013, and the results are as follows. I used Google Maps, and city to city distance, not specific school addresses.

 

Team: Distance to Bowling Green: Distance to Louisville

 

Mayfield: 159: , 227

Williamsburg 171: 177

DeSales: 114: 0

NewCath: 211: 99

Belfry: 284: 231

Wayne: 104: 154

Highlands: 215: 103

Collins: 135: 31

Bowling Green: 0: 114

Pulaski: 111: 129

Scott Co: 157: 70

Meade: 99: 44

 

Total Distance to Bowling Green 1760

Total Distance to Louisville 1379

 

Difference 381: Divided by 12 teams = 31.75 additional miles per team AVERAGE to Bowling Green vs. Louisville

 

Bowling Green is closer for 5 teams

Louisville is closer for 7 teams

It's not just the teams we are talking about.

It's the fans. Of course the teams will go wherever the games are being held. It's the fans that don't want to drive 4+ hours if they don't have a vested interest in it.

 

I wouldn't be against maybe moving the state finals each year to 4 different locations etc. such as Bowling Green, Louisville, Northern Ky and some other place etc.

 

It's not like you have to have a college stadium to host, shoot I've seen some football stadiums in eastern kentucky that colleges would envy. It's not like you have 20,000 people showing up for each game. I'm sure you could find a stadium suitable for hosting in each area.

Granted it is a one year sample size, and we need to do more years to get a better picture, but my question is, on average, is 32 additional miles per team significant enough to warrant the complaints?

To answer your question, no, it's not enough to warrant complaints. But that is easier said than done if it was only 32 mile difference for everybody. The fact is, it's a lot longer for others. 2 hour difference in some cases.

Watsui I think it is a great question. I agree with you the sample size is just one year. But if you look at years past I am not sure there will be much difference. Because of the Trinity and Central are 2 teams that have been main stays. Then you add Highlands and New Cath it will really look as if Louisville is the better location.

 

But when you add the mountain teams and WKY it looks like BG might be the best place.

Watsui I think it is a great question. I agree with you the sample size is just one year. But if you look at years past I am not sure there will be much difference. Because of the Trinity and Central are 2 teams that have been main stays. Then you add Highlands and New Cath it will really look as if Louisville is the better location.

 

But when you add the mountain teams and WKY it looks like BG might be the best place.

Which is why I think they should rotate the weekend each year.

 

Plus if it was ever held in NKY, NCC can host a party.

Edited December 9, 201312 yr by Ram

To answer your question, no, it's not enough to warrant complaints. But that is easier said than done if it was only 32 mile difference for everybody. The fact is, it's a lot longer for others. 2 hour difference in some cases.

That is the whole point of my post, you cannot be a respecter of persons and make decisions based upon individual schools. The only fair way to make an assessment is use total AVERAGE travel, and even then it is only one factor to consider when picking a venue.

 

It is a moot point anyway because Bowling Green is the ONLY venue who even bid on hosting the event. There really isn't any other choice.

Which is why I think they should rotate the weekend each year.

 

That will never happen.

That is the whole point of my post, you cannot be a respecter of persons and make decisions based upon individual schools. The only fair way to make an assessment is use total AVERAGE travel, and even then it is only one factor to consider when picking a venue.

 

It is a moot point anyway because Bowling Green is the ONLY venue who even bid on hosting the event. There really isn't any other choice.

I understand the reason you used avg travel etc. I still think an argument and a good one can be made for any and every site and is why a rotating venue should be used so it's not the same every year. Of course the best way would be to hold every years games in the central part of the state but that won't do away with the complaints from the schools that have long distances to travel etc. like there is with this current set up.

 

Thats why the best answer is to move the location eachyear on a rotation basis

I understand the reason you used avg travel etc. I still think an argument and a good one can be made for any and every site and is why a rotating venue should be used so it's not the same every year. Of course the best way would be to hold every years games in the central part of the state but that won't do away with the complaints from the schools that have long distances to travel etc. like there is with this current set up.

 

Thats why the best answer is to move the location eachyear on a rotation basis

 

If you move it every year the only two spots that make sense are BG And Louisville. Unless your ready to make the trip to Murray. Because I guarantee you someone like Mayfield isn't at all thrilled about going to Eastern or to NKY.

If you move it every year the only two spots that make sense are BG And Louisville. Unless your ready to make the trip to Murray. Because I guarantee you someone like Mayfield isn't at all thrilled about going to Eastern or to NKY.

 

 

Belfry isn't overly thrilled about Bowling Green or Louisville.. most years the Pirates win the award for "Furthest Distance Travelled".. it would be 292 from Mayfield to Richmond... Belfry has travelled 284 miles to Bowling Green 4 straight years

 

Even more, though 292 is longer in distance than 284... Belfry's trip to BG would be almost 35 minutes longer time-wise.

The question comes down to should you set the finals based upon where you think your traditional powers are located, or what makes locational sense. Obviously Louisville makes the most sense if you are focusing efforts merely on where you are most likely to capture a team from in the finals. I am not seeing a big deal from the locational angle; either is fine and a good neutral location. But coming from (far) west Kentucky, we have very little to no sympathy for people complaining about travel. Practically everything from sporting events, government, acts, etc. center around the Louisville, Lexington, NKY area. 3+ hour drives are a way of life for the west Kentucky folk. And the same I am guessing for those in far east or southeast Kentucky.

The biggest difference between Louisville and Bowling Green isn't necessarily the population, but the population of the surrounding area. For instance, there are far greater numbers of people within an hour of Louisville than within an hour of Bowling Green. It stands to reason that attendance ebbs and flows based on the attendance of casual fans. Just mathematically speaking there are more casual fans closer to Louisville than there are Bowling Green; ipso facto, there should be more fans attending in Louisville.

 

I have no real complaint or argument either way, but I will say that I believe Bowling Green/WKU does a great job of hosting the event. The Western stadium seems much more intimate and a better viewing experience for the fans. But I had no problems with the way Louisville hosted. It will be interesting to see that with Louisville's move to the ACC if they will again look to host. Louisville has lost almost all state events over the last several years.

I used to love flying into to Louisville, staying at the Executive West and watching the games at Cardinal Stadium/Papa Johns. It was simple, easy and fun for me. I'm not going to Bowling Green without a rooting interest.

If you move it every year the only two spots that make sense are BG And Louisville. Unless your ready to make the trip to Murray. Because I guarantee you someone like Mayfield isn't at all thrilled about going to Eastern or to NKY.

 

Why only Louisville and BG? Why BG in the first place? NKY is the same as BG