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Thanks to the City of Bluefield, WV


T8KNDookeez
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I would like to thank the City of Bluefield, WV for their assistance in helping a "Homefield advantage" mean absolutely nothing. Thank you for  letting the competitors get time on the field Friday night and Saturday morning before the game. Although Graham has to pay for time on the field you let a visiting team come in and use the facilities for free. This may seem minor to some but playing at a new field in a new environment is part of a homefield advantage, and usually the visiting team does not get on the field until a few hours before the game. I thought it was disrespectful not to ask Graham HS officials for permission. 

Sincerely,

Mr. Dookeez

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16 minutes ago, T8KNDookeez said:

I would like to thank the City of Bluefield, WV for their assistance in helping a "Homefield advantage" mean absolutely nothing. Thank you for  letting the competitors get time on the field Friday night and Saturday morning before the game. Although Graham has to pay for time on the field you let a visiting team come in and use the facilities for free. This may seem minor to some but playing at a new field in a new environment is part of a homefield advantage, and usually the visiting team does not get on the field until a few hours before the game. I thought it was disrespectful not to ask Graham HS officials for permission. 

Sincerely,

Mr. Dookeez

I agree with this, if true.

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This is one of many reasons I never root for Bluefield in any sports, ever. All this "Bluefield's stick together except one game a year"  is pure crap. I wouldn't care if they lost every game they ever play. I have many family members and friends who I love that are Beavers but I still won't cheer for them to win unless they were to play the Taliban or Isis.

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I don't believe it had anything to do with the Bluefield High School as the City runs the stadium. Both pay to play, along with Bluefield State and Bluefield College. The City is robbing all of them. 50K from BHS, 50 K from GHS, 110 from BC, 100 from BSC. Playoff games are extra and VHSL and WVSSAC get the majority of those gates. The High Schools can end up in the hole if they don't get large crowds for playoff games.

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12 hours ago, T8KNDookeez said:

I don't believe it had anything to do with the Bluefield High School as the City runs the stadium. Both pay to play, along with Bluefield State and Bluefield College. The City is robbing all of them. 50K from BHS, 50 K from GHS, 110 from BC, 100 from BSC. Playoff games are extra and VHSL and WVSSAC get the majority of those gates. The High Schools can end up in the hole if they don't get large crowds for playoff games.

You have no idea how much it costs to maintain a high school quality football stadium. Insurance, electricity, water, security, repairs, garbage collection, maintenance, extra pay for the people doing these things. Try doing that for under 50k. You can't. Plus you have to build the thing for a couple million and pay off those debts. The only complaint I have is the rest rooms are terrible. Need to work on that. There is a reason that every time any of the four schools renting the stadium start talking about building their own it stops pretty quick. They run the numbers and it just doesn't add up. 

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54 minutes ago, Bluefield researcher said:

You have no idea how much it costs to maintain a high school quality football stadium. Insurance, electricity, water, security, repairs, garbage collection, maintenance, extra pay for the people doing these things. Try doing that for under 50k. You can't. Plus you have to build the thing for a couple million and pay off those debts. The only complaint I have is the rest rooms are terrible. Need to work on that. There is a reason that every time any of the four schools renting the stadium start talking about building their own it stops pretty quick. They run the numbers and it just doesn't add up. 

I have actually seen the line by line items as to cost and upkeep of Mitchell Stadium. I don't disagree with you, but they are not operating on a break-even number. It is definitely a profitable asset for the city even before BSC started paying. That is why they would not sell it to Mercer County Schools or an investment group in Bluefield, VA.

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1 hour ago, Bluefield researcher said:

You have no idea how much it costs to maintain a high school quality football stadium. Insurance, electricity, water, security, repairs, garbage collection, maintenance, extra pay for the people doing these things. Try doing that for under 50k. You can't. Plus you have to build the thing for a couple million and pay off those debts. The only complaint I have is the rest rooms are terrible. Need to work on that. There is a reason that every time any of the four schools renting the stadium start talking about building their own it stops pretty quick. They run the numbers and it just doesn't add up. 

The bathroom is 1000% better after the remodel this year but still not what it should be!

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3 hours ago, Bluefield researcher said:

You have no idea how much it costs to maintain a high school quality football stadium. Insurance, electricity, water, security, repairs, garbage collection, maintenance, extra pay for the people doing these things. Try doing that for under 50k. You can't. Plus you have to build the thing for a couple million and pay off those debts. The only complaint I have is the rest rooms are terrible. Need to work on that. There is a reason that every time any of the four schools renting the stadium start talking about building their own it stops pretty quick. They run the numbers and it just doesn't add up. 

Didn't  the city get a large  grant from the  shot foundation for the  stadium 

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I use to like Mitchell Stadium as far as the appearance and such but after they stopped using the upper side concession stands and all the trees gone around the place now, it just looks run down.  I get all the crunching the numbers bit but from a Taz Co resident perspective, it kills me to see all that money go to another county much less another state.  I would say that it is quite profitable for City of Bluefield.

With all that said, it's pretty crappy what Bluefield did there.  Even a nominal charge of $100 for utilities would have made more sense.

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1 hour ago, Bluefield researcher said:

The Shott Foundation paid for the initial turf installation in 2007.

They also got 35k each year from tazewell and mercer County for turf replacement from 2007 until they replaced the turf a few years ago that they pissed away.

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10 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Why are Graham fans so pissy? It's not like Appomattox trashed their field, all they did was practice.  Not one thing wrong with that

I don't know for sure, but my guess is the anger from the Graham fans is at Bluefield, WV, not Appomattox County. Bluefield, WV, has done some suspect things with Mitchell Stadium as its arsenal over the years from stuff I've read on here over the years.  I don't know how much is true or not true

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Appos gotta practice somewhere, but in defense of the Graham faithful, it is kind of unheard of for a team in the state semi's that is traveling to practice on the same field they will be playing on the next day. I'm sure it's happened before, but I haven't heard of it.

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Sent a message to City of Bluefield’s FB account asking whom I needed to speak with  regarding what happened. 
 

“You will need to cal 304.327.2448 and ask to speak to Denise.”

I don’t know Denise but she’s been chosen to take the verbal bullet! 

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4 hours ago, BigWinners said:

Why are Graham fans so pissy? It's not like Appomattox trashed their field, all they did was practice.  Not one thing wrong with that

So if Appo had called BSG local government official in 2017 and arranged to practice at the park the night before the game and morning of the semi final game unbeknownst to Coach Turner & Union, that’s kosher with you?
 

I think it comes down to respect. Appo took advantage of a situation, can’t fault them but the town of Bluefield should have at least said, “Let us run that by Coach Palmer.” Graham found out from the gatekeeper. Graham pays to use for every playoff week after the regular season in addition to the fee for the regular season. Appo got to use it for free. Like I said, not faulting them but the town of Bluefield official that brokered that back door deal. 

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44 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

So if Appo had called BSG local government official in 2017 and arranged to practice at the park the night before the game and morning of the semi final game unbeknownst to Coach Turner & Union, that’s kosher with you?
 

I think it comes down to respect. Appo took advantage of a situation, can’t fault them but the town of Bluefield should have at least said, “Let us run that by Coach Palmer.” Graham found out from the gatekeeper. Graham pays to use for every playoff week after the regular season in addition to the fee for the regular season. Appo got to use it for free. Like I said, not faulting them but the town of Bluefield official that brokered that back door deal. 

Sure. I see no issue in it whatsoever. It's not up to Palmer, it's up to whoever owns the stadium. Getting upset about that seems petty to me

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6 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Sure. I see no issue in it whatsoever. It's not up to Palmer, it's up to whoever owns the stadium. Getting upset about that seems petty to me

I’ve already stated Tony is a class act and I’m petty on the Graham/Appo thread. I’ll proudly wear that label concerning this situation with the town of Bluefield, WV , lol 

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2 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

I’ve already stated Tony is a class act and I’m petty on the Graham/Appo thread. I’ll proudly wear that label concerning this situation with the town of Bluefield, WV , lol 

It obv didn't matter too much lol

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Just now, BigWinners said:

It obv didn't matter too much lol

I stated before the game, it wouldn’t affect the outcome and it didn’t. Maybe the players used it as fuel, who knows. What do they say, “It’s the principal of the matter.” The ire isn’t directed at Appo but the town of Bluefield, WV. 

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