Football state finals to move outside? Brrr!

Each year, the top two high school football teams in each division meet at Ford Field in Detroit on Thanksgiving weekend for a football frenzy, where Divisions 1 through 8 battle for state supremacy in eight state championship games.

Not only does Ford Field, which has hosted the state championship games since 2005, give high school players a chance to play in an NFL stadium, but it also gives avid football fans the chance to see each game under one roof during Michigan’s frigid November weather.

But that could all change after this year. The three-year contract between Ford Field and the Michigan High School Athletic Association runs out after this high school football season, and MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts told The Detroit News that no talks are scheduled between the two sides.

If the current contract isn’t renewed, the eight high school championship games will be scattered across the state at various stadiums. Options would include Spartan Stadium, Kelly/Shorts Stadium at Central Michigan, Waldo Stadium at Western Michigan and Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

The MHSAA gave this option a test run last season, when a Division 1 semifinal (Rockford vs. Livonia Stevenson) and Division 2 semifinal (Muskegon vs. Warren DeLaSalle) were played at Spartan Stadium. The game itself went along fine, other than the main negative to this move — weather.

The championship games are played on the Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. According to almanac.com, the maximum reported temperature in Detroit on November 28, 2008 — the first day of state championship games — was 39.9 degrees. Brrrr! Inside Ford Field? It’s always around 70 degrees, according to ticketsolutions.com.

Not only that, but one of the perks of all 16 teams playing in the same venue is that all fans can watch some of the top players in the state without having to drive all around the state.

Although the MHSAA would probably save money by moving to college stadiums — and in turn, state universities would make a little extra cash — I think it would make a lot of sense for the MHSAA to pester Ford Field to extend this contract, both for weather reasons and to preserve tradition.