Why Wheeling? Leaders had chance to bring game here
Friday, November 30, 2007
By - The Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Why are two football teams from the southern border of West Virginia playing for the state championship tonight in Wheeling, at least 285 miles away from home?
That’s a question we’ve heard a lot since Bluefield and James Monroe high schools won their way into the 2007 Class AA championship.
The answer comes down to two things — commitment, and money.
There are people in the Wheeling area who see the benefits of showing off their communities to hundreds of fans from around the state, and beyond, each year. They have put together the winning proposal when it comes time for the state governing body of high school athletics to open bids and choose a site.
The Wheeling boosters point out the artificial turf and seating capacity at Wheeling Island Stadium and the number of hotel and motel rooms available to be booked.
They have also promised, and delivered, an annual welcome banquet and plenty of volunteers to make the teams and their entourages feel comfortable in their city.
But, you may ask, don’t we have artificial turf? And plenty of seating? And motel capacity? The answer is yes, yes, and yes. There are now three stadia in Mercer County with new, top-quality synthetic playing surfaces — in Athens, Princeton and Bluefield.
What we apparently don’t have is the will to put our best foot forward.
The contract to host the football “Super Six” championship games, currently managed by the administration at Wheeling Park High School, expires after this weekend. That was no secret. Anyone could have called up the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission and found that out.
They could have begun the process months or years ago to put a proposal together to bring the games to southern West Virginia.
It appears no one did.
The commission, which makes the site decision, set a deadline of Wednesday of this week for people to request bid information. There is no indication that anyone from southern West Virginia took them up on it.
It takes money to throw a banquet, rent courtesy cars, pay the electric bill to light up the playing fields, and so on. We feel sure that there are some civic-minded people in Four Seasons Country who would be willing to help foot the bill — if asked.
The money part, then, could be covered. The commitment? That’s another question, one that could be asked of “leaders” in southern West Virginia.
They should be answering to all those people who’ve been wondering why the high schools have to play a big football game in the extreme northern part of the state in the often-icy weather of late November and early December
