Will COVID-19 be the needle that finally bursts the sports bubble?

In the 1980s in North Dakota, the closest league game (Western Dakota Association) for Minot and Williston was about 100 miles away. It was 176 miles from Minot to league-foe Dickinson/Dickinson Trinity, and 226 miles for Williston to league games in Bismarck/Mandan. Nice trips in the dead of winter.

 

Covered schools in New Mexico that had 4-hour trips to play league games.

 

I covered preps in Wyoming for a couple of years but it's been 20 years ago now. When I was there the "big" schools (sort of an oxymoron in Wyoming) were split into north and south conferences so there were obviously a few really long road trips -- Evanston to Cheyenne is pretty much driving across the entire state and at least a 5-hour drive. The smaller schools in our area played in a local region that was much more manageable, pretty much the southeast corner of the state. At one time I think they had switched to East-West conferences, but that doesn't help much. Quick glance now it looks like they have switched it to smaller regions, all the Cheyenne teams and Laramie together for example. Really, though, how do you do it in a state like Wyoming?

 

That's really absurd.

 

CIF makes it official. Winter/spring football.
California pushes back fall high school sports championships - MaxPreps

 

Someone mentioned 8 man football back upstream, and it made me think of Jack Pardee, who went to a tiny high school in west Texas. He played 6 man football. Both ways. RB and LB.

He was also one of Bear's Junction Boys. You just know that was one tough sumbitch.

 

You can bet that newspapers will be hiring more staff to cover them all.

 

Most long non-district trips like this are usually played at neutral sites roughly halfway. One example is Waco La Vega (in Central Texas) vs. Dumas (way up at the top of the Panhandle), who are playing their game at Vernon.

For the Midway-Permian game the logical neutral site would be Abilene or San Angelo, but there may not be any suitable sites available. At least 6A schools charter buses nowadays and don't ride the yellow dog like in the old days.