While I’m sure the good folks at Waffle House would love to cater a White House dinner, that’s not going to happen any time soon. It’s just as certain that the teams playing for a Tennessee state football championship deserve a better venue than Tennessee Tech.
Two points need to be made right away. First, the people working in and around the Tennessee Tech campus and stadium couldn’t be more hospitable. They were as pleasant and helpful as officials at any other TSSAA event.
Secondly, this is not a sour grapes argument over Chattanooga not being given the contract to host the title games. In fact, I’ve long argued that since Tennessee covers 560 miles from east to west, high school championship events should be played at the site closest to the geographic center that offers the nicest facilities.
Georgia holds its state championship football games at the Georgia Dome. Alabama’s state championships alternate between Auburn University and the University of Alabama campuses, Florida crowns its champions at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Virginia’s is held at Virginia Tech and Louisiana’s is at the Super Dome. Even Kentucky, where football ranks well behind basketball as a revenue sport, holds its championships at Bowling Green, which at least is a Bowl Subdivision stadium.
Tennessee held its championships at Vanderbilt for nearly 20 years, then moved to Middle Tennessee State from 2000 to ’08 before the TSSAA awarded Tennessee Tech the right to host the three-day event at Tucker Stadium, which opened in 1966. In August, the TSSAA extended that contract through the 2012 games.