I just talked to a voting member of the 14th Region Policy Board and they voted Wednesday for an 8 year 4 site rotation of Powell County, Breathitt County, Perry Central, and Knott Central to host the 14th Regional basketball tournament. The previous rotation had those 4 schools plus Hazard and Letcher Central.

Each of the 4 districts will be represented in the rotation.

 

This is probably the first time Hazard's Memorial Gym has been out of the rotation since it was built around 1950. For years it was the only site with the seating capacity to hold the tournament, until Breathitt County built the Coliseum in the mid 1960's, and Knott Central opened their 5,000 seat facility in the mid 1970's.

I was told the same thing last night by a reliable source that I've known for years. Heard that the other 4 schools voted no

I was told the same thing last night by a reliable source that I've known for years. Heard that the other 4 schools voted no

I believe the vote was 13-4 in favor of the new rotation.

I believe the vote was 13-4 in favor of the new rotation.

 

That's the word I got

I just talked to a voting member of the 14th Region Policy Board and they voted Wednesday for an 8 year 4 site rotation of Powell County, Breathitt County, Perry Central, and Knott Central to host the 14th Regional basketball tournament. The previous rotation had those 4 schools plus Hazard and Letcher Central.

Each of the 4 districts will be represented in the rotation.

 

This is probably the first time Hazard's Memorial Gym has been out of the rotation since it was built around 1950. For years it was the only site with the seating capacity to hold the tournament, until Breathitt County built the Coliseum in the mid 1960's, and Knott Central opened their 5,000 seat facility in the mid 1970's.

Hazard hasn't belonged in the rotation in the last 20 yrs.....facilities are top 5 worst in the 14th region

This is the norm now.

What is the capacity for each of the 4 gyms?

What is the capacity for each of the 4 gyms?

 

I'll give you what the KHSAA has in its Directory:

Knott Central 5,000

Perry Central 4,895

Breathitt Co. 4,000

Powell Co. 3,500

 

I personally think Perry Central's numbers may be slightly inflated but not by much. I'd estimate their gym to seat around 4,500. And Breathitt's is greatly inflated. JMO, but I don't think Breathitt Coliseum will seat but about 3,200. At one of their regional tournaments a few years ago a buddy and I counted the number of people in the rows and then multiplied them by the number of rows in each section (taking into account that due to the Coliseum being round, the length of each row is less in width as one climbs to the top rows). The best estimate we could come up with (and it was a capacity crowd that night) was approximately 3,000 in the seats, with about 100 standing around the enzone and along some of the rails. With that being said though, they do an excellent job of hosting the region.

I like the idea of each district having an opportunity to host the region in a four year span. The way it has been with the 6 year rotation was that the 53rd and 54th districts were getting the tournament twice in the rotation period. This will be a better and more fair system.

Knott Central 5,000

 

That's creeping in on Fieldhouse size.

Knott Central 5,000

 

That's creeping in on Fieldhouse size.

 

Bigger if you use the "new" definition of seat size.

Knott Central 5,000

 

That's creeping in on Fieldhouse size.

 

Knott has a horseshoe type gym

I wonder how much vote swapping and promises went on to get that vote at 13-4. I agree that Hazard is not a suitable facility to play the regional tournament. Nothing personal against them but parking, facilities and such are just not enough.

Hazard doesn't have enough parking space. And the gym doesn't have the seating capacity. They are another facility that is over stated when listing seating. I believe they have their's listed at 3,500 but it won't seat but about 2,500, and that is counting the people standing around the rails at the top of the gym. It was a great venue in it's day but is now outdated.

Letcher Central's gym is new, but they built it too small. It only seats about 2,500, and that may be stretching the estimate. I have no clue why a consolidated school (of 3 schools) with 1,000 enrollment, decided to build a gym of that size. However, that size is probably perfect throughout most of their games, with the exception of big rivalry games or hosting regional tournaments.

 

I think other reasons for the rotation changes (beside gym sizes), though, were to have been to simply downsize the number of years in the rotation, and they also eliminated situations where a couple of districts were getting two tournaments during the 6 year rotation. That's just a guess on my part, though.

Knott has a horseshoe type gym

 

I've talked to people that have been to both venues and they like Knott's gym over The Fieldhouse I think because of the horseshoe look

Anyone got a picture of Knott's gym?