Cameron and Chillicothe are right in the heart of 8-man football country
Fans of 8-man football will appreciate not driving as far for at least the next two championships. The players won’t have the thrill of playing in a “former” NFL venue, but MSHSAA will now decide between the towns of Cameron and Chillicothe as the host site for the championships for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
MSHSAA is making visits to both markets today (Monday April 18) and will have a decision by the board meeting in June.
Geographically it makes sense. As you can tell from the map, 8-man is dominated by most of the 24 teams coming from the northwest corner of the state, (as represented by the stars).
Click here for a closer look.
Having teams potentially driving five-hours for a game the day after Thanksgiving didn’t make much sense.
MSHSAA had four proposals that included 8-man. In addition to these two towns, Plaster Stadium in Springfield and Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field in Columbia also put a bid in to host the 8-man championships along with Classes 1-6.
Springfield will host the 11-man championships this upcoming year, Columbia in 2017.
Jason West, Communications Director of MSHSAA, tells us more about the site visits his office is making today.
MSHSAA is also considering moving up the 8-man championships to play on the Friday night before Thanksgiving. In the past, 8-man teams have had bye week between their semifinal and championship games, because their playoff bracket is not as big as Classes 1-5.
MSHSAA is also considering bumping up the Class 6 championship game the week before Thanksgiving as well.
