BATON ROUGE -- In a zoom meeting decision on Tuesday afternoon, the LHSAA Executive Committee, under the suggestion of Executive Director Eddie Bonine, has moved the Prep Classic football championships from its usual home at the Superdome in New Orleans to Northwestern State’s Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches.
This will mark only the second time in the history of the Prep Classic that it is not played in the Superdome. The only other time that occurred was in 2005 when Hurricane Rita struck New Orleans directly.
The movement comes on the heels uncertainty concerning the COVID-19 status in New Orleans, which in turn brings angst about how many fans will be able to attend the games in the Crescent City.
“The last stone that needed to be turned was where would we play the championships,” Bonine said. “It boiled down to how many people are we going to be allowed to have in the facility. We were not able to get an answer last week and today there is still not an answer.”
“At the end of the day, waiting to see what happened was not going to work for me because what if we were limited to 3,000 or 1,000 or 750 (fans),” Bonine continued. “We now have something that is etched in stone. … We have a site. I believe what we decided will give the athletes a championship feeling.”
With the move, the LHSAA also decided to extend the number of days that the championships will take place. Originally, the title games were supposed to occur over three days, December 27-29.
Now, the championships will happen over four days, with the last day being December 30. A schedule of games and times will be released in the coming days.
Bonine said the positivity rate in Natchitoches is lower, which allows for approximately 4,250 tickets per game at a 25% occupancy rate. Turpin Stadium holds 15,500 fans.
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Tracey Jagneaux
Sports Editor