VHSL votes to move most state championship events from Liberty University

[mahatmakanejeeves]

VHSL votes to move most state championship events from Liberty University

Posted: Thursday, May 5, 2016 4:58 pm

By Robert Anderson [e-mail] 981-3123

The Virginia High School League on Thursday moved 14 state tournament events away from Liberty University in Lynchburg including the 2016 Group 4A and Group 3A football championship games.

The VHSL Executive Committee — composed largely of superintendents, principals and athletic directors from across the state — issued a final vote during its annual May meeting in Charlottesville to move the two December football finals from Liberty to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

The VHSL also moved its 2017 Group 4A and Group 3A spring sports championships in baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer and boys and girls tennis away from Liberty and designated Salem as the host city for the semifinals and finals of those tournaments. ... All moves are for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years.

The decision by the VHSL ends an 18-year run of state football championship games in Lynchburg, with the exception of 2009 when the 4A and 3A finals were moved to Virginia Tech because of stadium renovation at LU. ... The move comes in the wake of a boycott of the April 22-23 VHSL Debate Tournament at Liberty by students from at least five Northern Virginia high schools in protest of comments in December by LU President Jerry Falwell Jr. that they perceived as anti-Muslim.

[underpants]

1. Damn! Bold move by the VHSL

[phylny]

2. I'm glad they made this move.

The games should 1) Not be held at a private university, but a public one, and we have plenty; 2) not contribute to LU's bottom line because Falwell'$ hate speech shouldn't be ignored.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. One advantage LU has is that Lynchburg is just about in the middle of VA.

Teams having to drive from the Cumberland Gap to Williamsburg will be out of luck.

ETA: I didn't even know what county that was. I had to look it up. I've never been that far west in VA. Apparently residents of the very tip of VA are closed closer to the capitals of six other states (something like that) than they are to Richmond.

Lee County, Virginia

This:

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 437 square miles (1,130 km2), of which 436 square miles (1,130 km2) is land and 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2) (0.4%) is water.

Lee County is physically closer to eight state capitals other than its own capital in Richmond: Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Charleston, West Virginia; Frankfort, Kentucky; Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. Additionally, Cumberland Gap in the far western part of Lee County is closer to Montgomery, Alabama, a ninth state capital.

[phylny]

4. Yes but they can rotate it so it's fair for everyone.

One year southwest, one year northeast etc. We have a ton of stadiums. even high school ones - hell, in Loudoun County, their newer high school fields are beautiful.

[westerebus]

5. Good news.

I know five people who graduated from LU, I'd consider two of the human beings.