CIF Championship Games at Sac State

My father and brothers and I always said that if the CIF Championship games ever came up north, we would go.  And when the Del Oro - Camarillo game kicked off, I was there with my family.

It was cold, windy and rainy, but we settled in and enjoyed all five games through the two days.  Del Oro had a nice crowd as did De la Salle, but the other teams's fans hardly filled half the home bleachers.  Does Clayton Valley not travel well?  Central Catholic had more than Clayton Valley, but less than Del Oro.  And Bellarmine?  Some Southern California teams had more fans attend their games than did the Bells.

Of course, we weren't fans of any of the teams; we were there to watch great high school football (and admittedly root for all five north teams).  We discovered we weren't alone.  There were at least ten other folks we ran into who were doing the same, and I imagine there were others.

There were many, many more fans who sat at home.  Some weren't interested because their team wasn't in it; others were content to watch the games on TV if they got it on whatever cable/satellite subscription they had.  But their apathy could come back to bite them.

The CIF moved the games up to Nor Cal to see if they could boost attendance.  That didn't happen. The CIF will gleefully continue to host the games from Carson down south.  If we hope to keep a Nor Cal site on the rotation with Carson (and Sac State is currently the only viable site), then attendance has to explode next year.

Next year, make a point to come to at least one day's games.  The $15 ticket is good for all the games that day.  If you come on Saturday, you see three games for that price -- essentially $5 per game. How can you beat that?

And root, root, root for the North!  The games were great, the event well organized (they even had two huge screen TVs so you could watch replays) and the food was awesome.

If you want the chance to see your team play for a CIF title a little closer to home than Carson, California, then you should make a point of attending a game next year at Sac State.  Only if attendance climbs can we guarantee a Nor Cal site on the rotation.