Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Editorial -- Bring Back Sectionals to the Civic Arena

We second Chris Roush’s call to bring back sectional basketball to the St. Joseph Civic Arena.

For some reason, MSHSAA, after COVID-19, outsourced the hosting of sectional basketball games to host schools, many of which do not have adequate facilities. So if a tiny school like Gilman City or Grundy County has to host and they don’t have adequate facilities, they have to scramble to find a suitable facility on short notice. Or create a major fire hazard due to overcrowding. Last year, Grundy County had to play a sectional game in Trenton.

Having both boys and girls sectionals in one place, like the Civic Arena, would reduce travel hardships for us. Had both Hawk teams won districts, we would have had nightmares scrambling to go to 2-4 different places with 4-8 hour round trips. Having them both in one location cuts down on travel time. And had Worth County’s boys, say, won the Mound City district, we would have had to choose whether to cover the Tigers or the Hawks, with either decision disappointing a lot of fans.

And having sectionals at the Civic Arena rewards players for their hard work and allows them to play on a much bigger stage than most kids ever will. MSHSAA has the money to do so given that they charge $10 to watch a stream of a post-season game.

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