Morgantown, Huntington Team Up on Competing Bid To Host WVSSAC Football Championships

Nick Henthorn

WHEELING -- One of the proposals for the next round of the West Virginia state football championships would put those games in not just one, but both of the biggest football stadiums in the Mountain State.

In trying to break Wheeling's 30-year lock on hosting the football championship games, groups from Morgantown and Huntington have come together on a bid that would have the cities share the championships. Morgantown is the home of West Virginia University and the 60.000-seat Milan Puskar Stadium. Huntington is home to Marshall University and the 30,475-seat Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

WVU and Marshall are the only two Football Bowl Subdivision universities in West Virginia.

The proposal has received the full-throated support of the Monongalia County Commission. Commissioners recently signed a letter endorsing the pitch. Commissioner Tom Bloom said the time was right for Morgantown to throw its hat in the ring and bid for the football championships.

"We believe it's time to consider moving the championship around the state," he said. "I'm looking at the bigger picture, and I really believe in competition."

Bloom believes the unique nature of the bid, the two cities coming together to share it, makes for an appealing pitch. He said the distribution of the games - this bid is for the next three years of championships - will need to be flexible. If Marshall qualifies for the Sun Belt Conference championship game, it possibly could host that game. This past season, the Sun Belt title game was played on the Saturday of the West Virginia high school championships.

"The number one best word I can use is 'experience,'" Bloom said. "We want the kids and their family members to have a great experience and a great time at the number one facilities.

"Honestly, who growing up in West Virginia wouldn't want to play at Marshall or play at WVU?," he continued. "So it has an incentive."

Yet he understands that the game sites alone won't be the thing that wins Morgantown and Huntington the bid. Bloom said Wheeling has done a great job over the last three decades turning the weekend into an event rather than just a slate of games. While he didn't want to get into specifics with the Morgantown/Huntington bid, he did mention that, when Morgantown bid for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials a few years back, one of the bid's components was a mini-Olympic village around the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.

"It's not just about touchdowns and goals," Bloom said. "It's an event, an experience."

Bloom understands the bid process will be very competitive, and the Morgantown/Huntington bid is going up against a Wheeling bid designed by a group with decades of experience in putting on a state football championship weekend. All Bloom hopes for is that the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission keeps an open mind and gives each bid full consideration.

"Look at the actual process, what's being offered, and how it benefits the students, the parents and the families," he said. "Making it a number one experience, that should be our goal. No matter who it is, that should be the goal."