[PHSForever]

Would someone please for the life of me explain how changing the location of a championship game or changing our class system helps to grow the game of football in our state? Beat the dead horse in another thread that's not what this thread is about. I believe the problem is 2 fold. On one hand the economy cannot be ignored for those who don't know I am from Belfry where when the coal business was good we annually dressed 75-80 kids during the 80's and 90's but those numbers have declined directly in conjunction with the decline in our economy in Pike Co. to where we now dress roughly 60 kids. Secondly it's generationally different now for kids those same numbers I previously mentioned may have dropped if kids had iPads and Facebook and every gadget underneath the sun. The mentality of some kids now may be "why go to football practice in 90 degree weather when I can stay home and play on the xbox or ps4 in air conditioning" for a kid in this area with not much of a social life to speak of around here your options were simply limited either go home and sit with your family all evening or play football with your friends, simply put it's just not that way anymore. Rant over lol

Irish, while I don't necessarily agree completely with the line of thought, I think their argument is that a greater exposure to a larger part of the population would generate more excitement overall, and therefore more support and incentive, which would theoretically lead to better play (due to focus). I think the easiest analogy is to equate it to college football here. When UK (for a few years there and hopefully more soon) and UL and EKU are all doing well, it seems to generate more excitement state wide. I'm not ignoring the other colleges, just using these as an example. Basically, "a rising tide lifts all boats" theory.

I've made no secret that I think the championships should be at EKU or Lexington due to the more centralized location (ergo, easier to reach a grater population for what I call "day trippers", those who will drive over just to watch certain teams even if they aren't really fans of those teams, like those who want to see Damien Harris or some other good player, etc). It is difficult for people to drive 5-6 hours depending on where they live, to watch a game sometimes. In Lexington or Richmond, you would generally be within 3 hours drive of probably 85% of the state population. That's a little more manageable and justifiable for a lot of people. More than that and you are likely looking at added expense such as overnight stay and so forth.

Anyway, I think that first paragraph of mine is the basic gist of why people think moving the championship game would make KY football better. While I'm not 100% sure that is THE answer, it should be considered.