MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A competitive bidding process has led to a new host site for the WVSSAC Football Championships.
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Football Championships will move to University of Charleston Stadium for at least the next three years. There is a mutual option for the 2027 title games. The WVSSAC Board of Directors granted final approval to the City of Charleston on Thursday.
David Price
“We are excited with the offer extended by the Charleston community to host the football championships at Laidley Field,” said WVSSAC Executive Director David Price. “The local organizing group is committed to the student and fan experience as well as the financial success of the event.”
The round of bidding to host the 2024, 2025 and 2026 games was the most-competitive in terms of the number of proposals submitted to the WVSSAC. Representatives from Bluefield’s Mitchell Stadium, Wheeling Island Stadium and a combined bid from Huntington’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium and Morgantown’s Milan Puskar Stadium all submitted proposals to host the contests.
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“We were very fortunate to have four proposals from different parts of the state (Bluefield/Charleston, Huntington/Morgantown and Wheeling) who each had great interest in hosting the football championships,” Price said. “Each proposal had strong merit and each received thorough consideration.”
“We included things in our bid like making sure every team, no matter where they are from even if they are from Charleston, gets to experience the same things — a sit-down meal, swag bags to commemorate their championship experience. We are going to make sure every team that comes to Charleston gets to go to GoMart Ballpark and see the ‘Light the Night’ that the Dirty Birds put on,” said Charleston CVB President and CEO Tim Brady.
Tim Brady
“What is going to be better than playing for a state championship with the Capitol Dome in the background and Laidley Field with the lights on? It is going to be really cool,” Brady said.
Bids were formally submitted to to the WVSSAC prior to January 12 and site visits were conducted in the following weeks. A minimum seating capacity of 10,000 was required by the WVSSAC to host. UC Stadium is the home of the University of Charleston and Capital High School football teams. Laidley Field also hosts the WVSSAC Track and Field Championships.
Wheeling had hosted the championship games since 1994. Laidley Field in Charleston was the previous host of the games. The 2024 championships will mark the first time that a 4-class system will be in place. Games will be played December 6 and 7 with noon and 7 p.m. kickoffs both days.
“We have four full-size locker rooms and a locker room for the referees. There are some locker room renovations that will be completed prior to December and some press box renovations that are underway that will be completed by November,” Brady said.
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“Wheeling has been a great host for the past 30 years,” Price said. They set the bar high for other cities to even consider the challenge of hosting the football championships. We thank the many individuals who provided leadership through the years for the Super 6.”
Four people died in a fire at this mobile home in Junior PHOTO: Alan Coberly
JUNIOR, W.Va. — A late night fire in Barbour County has claimed the lives of four people.
The State Fire Marshal confirms the four adults died in the blaze at a home in the town of Junior. The fire department was alerted just before 11 p.m. Wednesday. They arrived to find a mobile home fully engulfed in flames along River Avenue in the town.
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The fire was out in 15 minutes and the bodies discovered.
The Fire Marshal has investigators on scene. All four victims were adults, but further information is not known.
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — The Moundsville Police Department is investigating a pharmacy break-in that led to the theft of a large amount of narcotics.
Police said the burglary happened in the early morning hours of June 30. Investigators said the suspects broke a window, went behind the pharmacy counter and stole the narcotics.
Authorities believe the suspects are from outside the area.
Police said the suspects used a stolen Infiniti Q50. The vehicle was later recovered by Ohio authorities near Cambridge.
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The investigation is ongoing and involves law enforcement agencies in multiple states.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Moundsville Police Department at 304-845-1611.
The United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox on Tuesday, ruling that states may exclude transgender athletes from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams.
The justices were unanimous in their analysis that the laws do not violate civil rights laws. However, the court was split on whether West Virginia’s law stood up to constitutional muster.
The ruling concludes this chapter in the ongoing cultural debate. The Save Women’s Sports Act was overwhelmingly approved by the legislature and signed by then-Gov. Jim Justice in 2021, and was almost immediately challenged in court. The legal battle trudged on for the next five years on its way to becoming a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Tuesday’s ruling settled the legal debate, but the court of public opinion weighed in on the issues long before the justice issued their legal opinions. According to Pew Research, 66 percent of U.S. adults support laws requiring athletes to compete on teams that match their biological sex. A Gallup poll found similar results, with 69 percent of adults supporting such laws.
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West Virginia is not alone in passing a law to protect women’s and girls’ sports. Twenty-six other states have recognized the basic fact that there are differences between males and females and have chosen to pass legislation acknowledging those distinctions in athletic competition.
Lawmakers, who campaigned on protecting women’s and girls’ sports, can now tell constituents that they have fulfilled their campaign promise. The Save Women’s Sports Act is now the law of the land in West Virginia.
“I would say that for the foreseeable future, we have a very certain future for women’s sports. And here in West Virginia, we know what the rules are, we know what the law is, we know that it’s constitutional,” said West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey on Talkline.
Tuesday’s ruling also presents an opportunity for legislators to move on from the issue. Discussions surrounding the topic during the legislative session have been known to grind momentum to a halt, and Republicans running for office over the last five years have made it a centerpiece of their campaigns.
The issue is now settled, at least for now.
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As J.B McCuskey cautioned,
“In the world of constitutional litigation, Dave, there’s never an end to any chapter.”
