Should Arkansas State Chamionships be for sale?

[mijally]

"...provide services to the schools in a fair and impartial manner..."   

This quote is taken from the AAA mission statement. I've made a lot of comments about how teams bid for tournaments and then turn them in to their own personal Invitational and start rigging advantages in their favor. Why do we sit by and let this garbage happen in our state playoffs?  My school has gotten the job two years in a row. It's worse this year with District tournaments for sale.  Is the Director of AAA not aware of this or does he just not care?  Does anybody else feel the same way or is it just me? 

[BLUEBLOOD]

Every school has the opportunity to "bid" for the tournaments.  I'm fully aware of the weaknesses of the AAA, but I don't think a school has much control over brackets, game times or even referees in postseason tournaments.  Maybe you should elaborate on how your team got the "job"......unless, of course, you mean they got beat out sooner than you had hoped.

[MDXPHD]

Yeah, what happened?

I know in soccer, the teams that host will always play their teams on the best fields in the tournament. Happens every year. Sometimes you have them playing on turf and every other game on terrible grass fields(not just good grass fields, which I prefer over turf). Teams definitely bid on it when they have the chance to go to the finals, but I'm not sure what they do in basketball.

[mijally]

Every school has the opportunity to "bid" for the tournaments.  I'm fully aware of the weaknesses of the AAA, but I don't think a school has much control over brackets, game times or even referees in postseason tournaments.  Maybe you should elaborate on how your team got the "job"......unless, of course, you mean they got beat out sooner than you had hoped.

No. In BB my team made the finals. In soccer they made the semis. That is not my point. Competitive advantages in the state playoffs are my only point. Home court advantage, fan advantage vs neutral field or court. And yes the host runs the show. They line up the refs and game times. It was not a coincidence that when Maumelle played the South teams the games where officiated by South officials. When they played a team outside the South they got a different ref. Thats because the South ref was busy hosing Valley View for another South team.  If there was no advantage then schools wouldn't buy it. And to answer the question you can bid too...no I couldn't because I wouldn't feel right about rigging advantages and ruining high school athletes and their family's tournament experience to win. That's unethical.

[Rulesman]

And yes the host runs the show. They line up the refs and game times. 

I can't speak for soccer but in football and basketball that is not a true statement. Where do you get your information?

[Go Postal]

Yeah, what happened?

I know in soccer, the teams that host will always play their teams on the best fields in the tournament. Happens every year. Sometimes you have them playing on turf and every other game on terrible grass fields(not just good grass fields, which I prefer over turf). Teams definitely bid on it when they have the chance to go to the finals, but I'm not sure what they do in basketball.

I believe that Harrison plays on their grass fields and not the stadium when we host but they are in excellent condition for the playoffs.  Hopefully when we finish the new BB arena, then we can bid on that also.

[mijally]

Are you telling me that the AAA was involved in the decision to push Hot Springs 1st round BB game last year up to day 1 at 8pm and it was also the AAA's decision to have South refs officiate South games in soccer two years ago and not the host schools who did this on their own?  Was it the AAA who said it was okay for multiple hosts to have home field advantage in the same town instead of having them play on each other's field so there would be no advantage?  Who at the AAA thought Hope had the facilities to host a few years ago?  Was it the AAA who was scrambling right before game time to put a field together?  I don't believe the AAA has anything to do with anything but collecting checks and soliciting advertising dollars. A lot of talk but the only thing I care about is fair and equal state tournaments with no competitive advantage in state playoffs. Just wondered if others felt the same. Guess not.

[MDXPHD]

I believe that Harrison plays on their grass fields and not the stadium when we host but they are in excellent condition for the playoffs.  Hopefully when we finish the new BB arena, then we can bid on that also.

When I coached in the playoffs, Harrison definitely scheduled their games on the turf. It caused several complaints. They changed it sometime after the next year or two. They do have better grass fields than most though. Harrison does a great job hosting tournaments and always have plenty of volunteers.

[mijally]

I wouldn't mind at Harrison soccer complex. I've heard good things about the fields. Burns Park was my favorite when the weather was permitting. 

[Go Postal]

I heard that they just put $30,000+ more in to the grass fields soccer complex and I know that we are putting our bid in again this next season.  We might have they new BB arena up for a couple of games this year and maybe put bid in next few years.  Not sure if Harrison has bid for Track season yet for the stadium.

[VHSCoach2]

It does seem that Harrison makes quite a bit of bids, and more power to them.  They know how to run tournaments adequately.

However, I am a bit miffed that we were pretty much told that the 5A West Soccer Conference Tournament would be in Harrison without so much as a vote or anything like that.  Like, "Oh, by the way, the Conference Tournament is in Harrison." 

Well, alright, but is it on a rotation-like basis and will be somewhere else in Spring 2018, or at least a voting process?

[Brian G]

Discuss soccer in soccer.

You're mixing metaphors.

[Go Postal]

B.G. is correct.  This might be a good thread in the Soccer forum for discussion since we have all of the conferences (7A on down) in one sport's forum for their input.

BTW, I always enjoy hearing what you guys (mijally, MDXPHD, VHSCoach2 and others) have to say in the football/basketball/soccer forums.

Back to the hardwood court and THAT kind of dribbling.

[sevenof400]

I can't speak for soccer but in football and basketball that is not a true statement. Where do you get your information?

I can speak for soccer and can tell you that an assignor selects the crews for each match and that assignor works for / under AAA.

It should also be noted that depending on where the state tournament is held, you may only have referees from one geographic area of a classification working the tournament.