Coming off an 11-2 season that ended with a 14-3 win over Ohio State University in the Cotton Bowl in 2023, the University of Missouri football team legitimately expects to compete in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff in December.
The Tigers, if they qualify, could host a first-round game that could conflict with the Missouri State High School Activities Association 11-man football championships, also slated for Faurot Field. That’s where Hillsboro played Kearney for the Class 4 state championship last December.
After a vote by MSHSAA’s board of directors in April, Faurot will host this year’s 11-man championships, but because of the chance of a scheduling conflict in December, MSHSAA will move them to Spratt Stadium at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, starting in 2025 and running through 2028. That will put the 11-man and eight-man football finals in the same location. Spratt also is the site of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs’ summer training camp.
With the exception of 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions forced MSHSAA to separate the state finals by class and location, Faurot Field had hosted 11-man state football since 2017. Other sites for the 11-man championships in the past 30 years have been the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis (1996-2015) and Plaster Stadium in Springfield (2016). Before that, championship games were held at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, home of the Chiefs, and even the old Busch Stadium II in the 1980s when the football Cardinals were still in St. Louis.
Contrary to what some may believe, the location isn’t all about revenue.
“It’s not a bid process, it’s a proposal process,” said outgoing MSHSAA communications director Jason West about how the state determines where to play. West, MSHSAA’s spokesman for the last 16 years, is leaving in June. “When entities put in a proposal, it entails everything they can do for us. The comments about who we choose is whoever gives MSHSAA the most money is absolutely not true. There’s costs associated with hosting.”
When I saw St. Joseph would be the new site, I immediately thought of how far away it is –more than double the distance to Columbia. West said he’s seen negative comments online about the decision.
“We’re getting feedback from the northwest part of the state, too, which has been positive,” he said. “I have seen comments from people in the southeast corner, that questioned why it was moved (to St. Joe). We send bids to a lot of different people, convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, universities, and they can all put a proposal in.”
MSHSAA looked at proposals from St. Joseph and Jefferson City, which offered Adkins Stadium, already the site of the state track and field championships. West said Mizzou only proposed to host in 2024.
“Given changes in their football season, they weren’t comfortable giving away their stadium for multiple years,” West said. “They’re fairly confident they’ll be in that position again in the near future and their board accepted (to host in 2024), but there are stipulations; if they host a playoff game, we’re going to have to move the Show Me Bowl games.”
Going back to the Dome wasn’t an option for 2024 because of the expense involved. West said MSHSAA couldn’t use its own workers to run the event and would have to hire the facility’s own union workers. Even Lindenwood University got into the picture; it hosted Jefferson City and Hazelwood Central in the 1978 Class 4A final. West said there were talks with Lindenwood officials, but since the Lions now compete in NCAA Division I and use Hunter Stadium for more than just football, a deal couldn’t be made.
Spratt seats 6,500, with capacity to expand to 10,000 fans, counting standing room. West said Jackson brought 7,000 fans to Faurot in 2019 when the Indians lost the Class 5 championship game 27-21 in overtime to Carthage.
While the players no doubt loved playing in a professional stadium or a Division I facility like Faurot, they are too big for high school games. The cavernous dome in St. Louis was one of the loudest in the NFL when the Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” thrilled us all 25 years ago, but when I covered state football games there, the 60,000-seat behemoth was like a mausoleum. Kearney and Hillsboro fans did their part to fill the center lower bowl of Faurot in last year’s state final, but no two high school teams will ever draw anything like 40,000 or 50,000 fans.
I asked all 12 head football coaches from our county to weigh in on the matter.
“I think it should be somewhat centrally located, but I like the smaller setting personally,” Hillsboro head coach Bill Sucharski said. “The large college and NFL stadiums look so empty for those games. Smaller stadiums put fans closer to the games.”
Festus head coach A.J. Ofodile played and coached at Faurot Field for the Tigers. When Ofodile was head coach at Columbia Rock Bridge, the Bruins played in the Class 6 state final at the Jones Dome. Ofodile said in all of those years state was in St. Louis, a lot of teams from the Kansas City area had to make the long drive on I-70.
“So it’s probably fair to take that burden off of them for a little while,” Ofodile said. “Over the years, I’ve voluntarily played in Arkansas, Ohio and Las Vegas for just regular nonconference games, so a trip to St. Joe would be more than worth it if we are at some point fortunate enough to make it to that game.”
That’s all Seckman head coach Nick Baer wants, too. Before Baer arrived at the school in 2019, the only way the Jaguars were getting into a state final was by purchasing a ticket. But three consecutive seasons of at least nine wins – they were 10-1 last year – has changed the perception and expectations there.
Baer mixed a bit of characteristic humor into his response to moving the Show Me Bowl games.
“When Seckman football makes it to the state championship game, we’ll play it anywhere,” he said. “We’ll play it on the moon.”
Herculaneum head coach Blane Boss said if state was moved due to Mizzou needing it in December, he completely understands.
"The unfortunate thing is there are really no D2 schools with stadiums that are centralized in the state with (Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla) being the closest thing," Boss said. "I think any team would be willing to travel for an opportunity to play in a state championship."
We’re t-minus 90-some days from Week 1 of football. I think most of us fans would love to see Mizzou host a playoff game and have a shot at a national championship. And I’m sure any of our coaches would be happy, like Baer, to take their teams to the moon and back.