SHIELDS COLUMN: Haywood-South Side game should move to Oman Arena

Monday and Tuesday nights are going to be a couple of fun nights for local high school basketball fans.

There are no second chances remaining in the postseason as we’re down to the final 16 teams in the state in each classification. Monday’s action will trim that number to eight teams for the girls, and then the process will repeat itself on Tuesday for the boys.

There are intriguing sectional matchups all over the place, but there’s probably one on Tuesday that could be the single biggest basketball game in West Tennessee in quite some time: South Side at Haywood.

It’s the defending Class AA state champion traveling to play the team that hasn’t lost a game this season to a team in this state.

This is the second year in a row for Haywood to play against a defending state champion. How many people remember last year when the Tomcats traveled to Humboldt, who’d won the Class A title the previous March?

That night in Humboldt last year saw the Vikings’ gym fill to capacity, and then some. Reports from that night indicated the local fire department officials said the school had to stop allowing people to get in the door because they were on the brink of breaking fire codes. After they put a stop to admitting people into the building, some estimates said 300 people were turned away at the door.

Humboldt doesn’t have that small of a gym. It’s not every day the school’s administration has to turn people away, so there was a big crowd wanting to see that one.

Now let’s take that same game situation and move it deep into the postseason where a trip to the state tournament and ending your season at least a week early is the difference between winning and losing. There’s probably going to be a little bit greater of an effort given by players on both teams, only this time Haywood is pitted against South Side.

Rough estimates of Haywood’s gym suggest the Tomcats can host not much more than the TSSAA’s minimum capacity requirement to be able to host a sectional game. That number is 1,250 for Class AA. If they can’t host, then the TSSAA mandates they move the site of the game with Haywood still wearing the home white jersey and either getting money generated at the concession stand or appointing someone else to handle it and letting them profit from the work.

There are seven boys’ basketball teams in rural West Tennessee remaining, so there won’t be a lot of other games pulling interest from this one. In fact, each gym that hosts a sectional game is considerably more crowded because a lot of people whose teams have been eliminated still want to get out and see one more basketball game before the final two weeks of hoops for the next eight months moves to Murfreesboro.

There will be a lot more than the 1,250 people who can adequately sit/stand in Haywood’s gym that want to see this game and will be willing to pay the $7 admission the TSSAA requires for this round to see it.

So everybody that wants to be sure to have an opportunity to see this game needs to hope the administration at Haywood is willing to look into making that happen. The most obvious place for that is at Oman Arena and its 5,600 seats.

There’s plenty of reason for Haywood to not want to play at Oman Arena with the main one being the Tomcats probably don’t want to play South Side in Jackson. But the home-court advantage some might perceive South Side to have because their campus is five miles away from the site might not be in the favor of the Hawks as much as believed.

Where has Haywood already won a couple of big games this postseason to claim the District 15-AA championship? Oman Arena.

There is a $1,000 fee to rent the facility. But Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist is willing to work with the school or schools about that fee based on percentages of the gate, and “school or schools” is phrased as such because it’s very possible the South Side administration would be willing to go half-and-half on the rent fee and security detail for the sake of a bigger paycheck from the game. TSSAA will get 40 percent of the gate from the game, while South Side and Haywood will each get 30 percent. Haywood also gets 100 percent of concessions.

Here’s how the numbers break down. Assuming Haywood’s gym is at capacity of 1,250 with each paying $7, Haywood and South Side each take in $2,625 of a total gate of $8,750. Let’s be conservative and say 3,000 people show up to Oman Arena for the game. That means each school would get $6,300. Even if Haywood had to pay the entire $1,000, they’d still double their profit. And that math is before concessions revenue — which would go 100 percent to Haywood if they so chose — would be added in.

There’s the added benefit on the court of the winner having experience a week before the state tournament playing in an arena similar to the environment they will play in at MTSU’s Murphy Center.

But things have to happen quickly.

“It’s doable if they contact us Monday morning,” Gist said when asked about the scenario. “If the flooring for the basketball court isn’t down this weekend because of the Jewel Awards banquet [on Friday night], then that would have to be put back down, which would take some work.

“But it’s not a possibility if no one calls us to ask about it. But we’d do what we could to help them out if they wanted it or felt like they needed it.”

The number to call is 731-425-8580.

Haywood may not want or feel like they need it. Attempts to reach out to Haywood weren’t answered, so there’s no indication one way or another if they’re interested. But if they are, both teams would benefit from the move.

Brandon Shields is the high school sports columnist of The Jackson Sun. Contact him at 425-9751 or at bjshields@jacksonsun.com. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.