The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Playoff football on Friday only? Big mistake
It’s Week 11. Your football team made the playoffs, makes a crazy comeback against the top seed in the region and you jump online that night to see the recap and photos of you’re team’s improbable victory.
Only, it’s not there.
You check again the next morning, and still nothing — online or in the paper. There are stories and photos and commentary on other games, but not yours.
Unfortunately, this scenario may soon be a reality if the Ohio High School Athletic Association moves forward with its plan to shift all playoff football games to Friday nights.
At the recent OHSAA Media Advisory Committee meeting, the idea of Friday-only playoff games — excluding certain circumstances and state finals — was brought up and, if approved at the June 1 board of directors’ meeting, it would become a reality.
It would be a disservice to the student-athletes that the OHSAA is supposed to act in the best interest of.
Let’s start with the example given at the start of the column.
I’m going to let you all in on a little secret — the journalism industry is hurting.
As with most industries that are hurting, it shows itself in position cuts.
Most newspapers will not be able to cover all of the playoff games involving their area teams due to thinning staff if the games are on one evening instead of spread across two.
Who is going to get hurt by that? The student-athletes.
Consider last year, eight Morning Journal area teams made the playoffs. Luckily, we have the staffing to cover all of those — even if they had all been on the same night.
That would not be the case for a number of newspapers across the state.
For arguments sake, please tell me which team would not have deserved the coverage?
Avon? Avon Lake? Midview? Olmsted Falls? Bay? Lorain? Columbia? Westlake?
The simple answer is, all of them deserve coverage.
Why put the newspapers, radio and television stations and other media outlets in the position to choose which teams don’t get covered? Because attendance at Saturday games are not what the OHSAA would like? Because neutral site stadiums are harder to find on Saturday? Because coaches would rather have the games on Friday? I don’t buy it. If coaches and administrators were told that all games being on Friday might risk the media coverage of their team in the playoffs, I’m sure plenty of them would rethink that
choice.
But this is a selfish argument from the person who will have to decide which team might not get covered.
How about we look at one that could impact the future of the players?
Having playoff games only on Fridays could impact the chance of fringe collegiate athletes getting scholarships offers.
But they have the whole season for that, right? Technically, yes. But when you are running a top-notch Division I program, you need to budget your recruiting time accordingly.
Now, instead of visiting a pair of Ohio playoff games in a weekend while trying to get those prized prospects to commit, coaches can’t see that D-I playoff team on Friday
and then the D-III one on Saturday. Now coaches have to chose which team they will see, and hope that they can get the idea of what other athletes they are recruiting did in their game from the media coverage — oh, wait, we already when over that issue.
So, to compensate, most colleges will have to adjust their regular-season visits to check out a team they probably would have seen in the playoffs.
Who is going to get cut out in the end? The fringe prospect. Perhaps a player like Clearview’s DeAri Todd? Maybe Michigan State decides it needs to check out St. Edward instead of Clearview due to the adjustments.
Or, what about Avon’s Sam Gerak or Mitch Cooper? Two players that
clearly have Division I talent (as evidenced by their signing with Northwestern and Akron, respectively). Could the shift in playoff games make it so that they don’t get recruited? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’ll tell you one thing.
It’s a risk not worth taking.
And it’s a risk that is easily avoidable with a simple no vote by the OHSAA board of directors.
Here’s to hoping that on June 1, they do what is right by the student-athletes they represent instead of going with the route that makes things easier for themselves.