AIA attempts to solve football-championship puzzle

It should be simple to schedule six state high school championship football games, right?
Find a couple of venues, pay the rent and blow the whistle. What's so difficult?
Tell that to Arizona Interscholastic Association Chief Operations Officer Chuck Schmidt. For weeks, if not months, the AIA has been trying to finalize the dates and locations for the 2011 title games, but the high school governing body still doesn't have a final resolution.
The reason: grass.
No, AIA officials aren't smoking it, despite what some high school coaches and athletic directors might think. The lack of an artificial playing surface in the Valley makes the scheduling of those six games much more difficult than fans may think.
"We don't have a place where we can play several games on one Saturday," Schmidt said.
Because of that, the AIA is at the mercy of the two available venues in town - University of Phoenix Stadium and Sun Devil Stadium - and the teams and leagues that use those venues.
An example: Ideally, the AIA would play the big-schools championships - Division I and Division II - at University of Phoenix Stadium on Nov. 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. But, the Arizona Cardinals have three consecutive home games starting Dec. 4 - assuming there's a season - and Schmidt said both team and NFL officials fear field conditions will be compromised under the weight of two high school games.
Another possibility is to play the Division I game at University of Phoenix Stadium on Saturday night and the Division II game earlier in the day at Sun Devil Stadium. But that poses a problem because the first-ever Pac-12 football championship game is scheduled for Dec. 3, and ASU could host the event.
"They want plenty of time to prepare the field and make sure it's in the shape the Pac-12 wants it to be," Schmidt said.
And what if University of Phoenix can only be used for one game and ASU declines to have any games played that Saturday? The AIA could try to find another venue or schedule the Division II game for a Friday night, which will make the fans of both of the competing schools unhappy.
See, it's not as simple as it sounds.
"We're trying to create a win, win, win, win for schools, venues, fans and kids," Schmidt said, "and there is a great deal that goes into that formula."
The AIA has managed to firm up a few commitments for the fall.
The Division VI championship - eight-man football - will be played at Prescott Valley Bradshaw Mountain sometime in late November. Division III, IV and V games will be played inside the Walkup Skydome at Northern Arizona University on Nov. 26.
The best bet for the big schools?
The Division I game will be played at University of Phoenix, the Division II game at ASU.
Some fans won't be happy that there are five championship games in one day, but what's the alternative? The AIA was blasted last year when the Class 5A Division I and Division II title games were played on a Monday night.
Better to create a Championship Saturday experience than ask parents and fans to try to leave work early and fight rush-hour traffic.
Schmidt said he hopes to have the dates, times and locations finalized within a couple of weeks.
But, he acknowledged, he said that a month ago.
"The bottom line is we're trying to get everybody to agree," he said.
And when all of those parties are trying to protect their own interests, which can be exceedingly difficult to do.