Spring Bid Sites

[sevenof400]

I'll make a more detailed post on this later, but one of the issues to consider with respect to state playoff locations is (are) the number of schools that bid.  Attached to this post, please find the list of bids for spring sports. 

[MDXPHD]

Thanks Seven.  This is exactly my point.  Everyone wants to complain about what fields they are playing on, but nobody really bids to host these.

Harrison, Hope for 5A (Harrison gets it all of the time so they thought "why not")

ElDo and Searcy for 6A

Nobody for 4A (yet, people are complaining that CAC gets to play on their home field)

7A -- only one team for boys and one team for girls.

Unless you can get your school to host, or a school with "good fields" to bid, then don't whine about it.

[sevenof400]

Let me add this document for further enlightenment.  How many of you have actually read the AAA bid requirement form?  If not, please read the PDF attached to this post.

[sevenof400]

One of the issues with respect to the quality and number of available sites for spring playoffs that is NOT discussed very much is the bid process itself.  Take a moment to look at the bid requirements for soccer and among them you will find the following requirement:

NOTE: The AAA will receive % of gross gate receipts. (Not to be considered an expense.)
A 75% minimum bid is required. It is recommended that rooms be provided for officials.

Let's parse this out a bit.  That section alone will cause most schools to decline to enter a bid.  Please note AAA lists 75% of the gross gate receipts at a minimum.  I do know that in other sports, many schools will increase this amount as an incentive to secure the bid.  But for the moment, lets just work on the assumption that all winning bids were 75%. 

Two reasonable questions emerge at this point:

• What does AAA do with the 75% (or more) of the gross gate receipts?
• What does AAA bring to the table to earn their portion of the gate receipts?

AAA indicates they pay for the referees fees (game fees and mileage) and awards - presumably those costs are offset from the gate receipts.  But lets do a little math here and for illustrative purposes, I'll use the 5A state tournament to approximate some costs.

14 boys and 14 girls games will be played at the 5A host sight (in this case, Hope) for a total of 28 games. 
The referee costs for a state tournament game are higher than regular season matches and there is the matter of referee mileage.  A reasonable guess is that each three man crew for a state tournament game will run about $180 (CR $80, each AR $50).  Mileage will have to be paid as well but AAA only pays mileage one way in some sports.  Just to make for easy math, let's assume $20 in mileage cost for each game to bring the referee expenses per game to $200. 

$200 * 28 games = $5,600 in referee costs.   
Let's further assume a $5 admission fee. 
That means AAA would need a host to admit 1,120 paid $5 admissions to cover the referee fees if the host submitted 100% of the game to AAA.  Since our example is at 75%, that number increases to just under 1,500 paid admissions.

Is it reasonable to believe 28 soccer matches will produce about 1,500 paid admissions?
That would be a bit over 53 admissions per match.

Based on the sidelines I recall in Harrison, I think it quite likely that number is reached.  Whether my math is a bit fuzzy or not, I think it is safe to say that AAA will have their costs covered by the gate receipts from the host.  This brings us to the question of what AAA does to earn that money.

The short answer is nothing.  Again, let's look back at the host requirements from the AAA bid form.

THE HOST SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR FURNISHING THE FOLLOWING:
A. Ticket sellers and takers
B. Facility – game clock and lights on fields
C. Hospitality room
D. Security
E. Tournament receipts remitted to AAA within two (2) weeks of tournament
F. Water on every field for teams and referees
G. Adult Field Marshals for every three (3) fields

THE HOST WILL: (as previously agreed with the AAA office)
A. Furnish a program
B. _____Provide rooms for officials

In short, AAA runs ZERO risk when it comes to a state tournament (while the host definitely does), has its costs covered and contributes NOTHING to the running of the tournament.

This is exactly why a good number of schools never even consider submitting a bid.  AAA needs to review and revise its bid requirements such that schools will want to host a playoff. 

[Go Postal]

Wow, great thread!  I didn't realize what went on behind the scenes for bidding as a host.

I do understand why players/coaches/fans want it in a central state area due to drive times, but not all central fields/pitches/tracks/gyms/diamonds are always up to par.  Especially when weather can be a factor for field condition and travel.

But after reading on how a host team's school could lose money, it makes me wonder why a school would put in a bid.  One thing that I do know is a town's motels/eateries/etc could make revenue from all the teams coming to town, but maybe not the host school.  Plus local/semi-local teams could maybe sleep in their own bed to be fresh for the upcoming games.  This also makes me wonder why Harrison or other smaller conferences would want to bid for host on different sports and not being centrally located for travel times.  I think of why Harrison or smaller conferences do this every year for any sport...

Goblin football/soccer/track Stadium, plus at least 3 more soccer grass fields (parks and recreation keeps these up).  Stadium is still to expand more for football visitors.

Goblin baseball/softball diamonds.  Parks and recreation keeps these up.  Though there are many other smaller diamonds around the town.

Pioneer College Basketball arena for smaller teams to compete in, but Goblins will be building their own 5A basketball arena soon.

I love being a former Goblin soccer-football-weightlifting parent/still a Goblin fan/always a 5A West fan and any other smaller local conference team's fan, when you could go at least or less of 1 mile to a playoff game when Harrison or smaller conference teams won the bid.  Great to sleep in my bed.  I'm 58 , But it is not always that.  Cycles changes/bid change/etc, this is Arkansas sports life.  We live in a big State where many miles traveled is the norm in every conference.

(Side note on weather for soccer:  I remember when Harrison flooded from Crooked Creek on the soccer grass fields.  I believe that this vid is correct on the year).



Harrison was to host the playoffs.  Our grass fields went under water about 6 ft, you could see it on the waterline on the fences.  Once the water receded, Harrison Parks and Recreation made sure that the playoffs grass fields would happen.  seven, you can probably remember this.