Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium will be undergoing renovations this spring, and the state track meet will be moving to Dayton.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced in a press release last week its state track and field meet will take place at the newly renovated Welcome Stadium this June.
After the completion of Ohio State’s regular season, the track at Jesse Owens Stadium will be removed and replaced. The OHSAA chose Welcome Stadium as the replacement site.
Dayton Public Schools completed a $34 million renovation project at the stadium in time for football season. Among the renovations are a new track, field turf and press box.
The move is somewhat surprising, given the OHSAA hasn’t held any events at the stadium since a series of issues involving DPS schools, including in 2016 when a DPS athletic administrator instructed one of the district’s football coaches to lose a game in order to allow another school to win and qualify for the playoffs.
But it appears the OHSAA thinks DPS has cleaned up its act since issuing punishments in 2017.
“We are very impressed with the renovations at Welcome Stadium,” OHSAA executive director Doug Ute said. “It’s great to see what Dayton Public Schools has done to the facility and they were very excited right away when we called. We are fortunate that the timing of these construction projects lined up so that Welcome Stadium was ready to host before Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium was unavailable.”
The press release said a contract is in place with Ohio State for the 2025 and 2026 state track meets. The press release included a quote from an Ohio State official who said the university is looking forward to hosting again in 2025 “and beyond.”
It will be interesting to see if Jesse Owens will continue to be the site of the state track meet after 2026. The facility is great and is generally well regarded by fans (though parking and traffic are a bit of a hassle).
DPS officials stated numerous times to media during renovations it was hoping to attract larger events, and the state track meet was even mentioned specifically; the meet was held there from 1999 through 2003 after the track at Ohio Stadium was removed.
The state meet moved to Jesse Owens Stadium in 2004 and has remained there since, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If DPS can pass the audition of sorts this spring, it may get to host the event again… if the price is right. OHSAA administrators have said that’s a big (or the biggest) factor in where state events are held.
With Northeast Ohio already hosting football, baseball, softball, swimming and girls tennis and the Dayton area already hosting boys and girls basketball and volleyball, the organization has made it clear its events can be hosted at venues outside central Ohio.
As someone who has to balance regional baseball and state track coverage that weekend each June, I’m beyond happy. Knowing I won’t have to do something this spring like having to drive from Sidney to Princeton to Westerville, as I did on the same day in 2021, is a relief.
But as much as I enjoy state events being held in Dayton, count me among those who think they should be in central Ohio if at all possible.
Because as someone who frequently has to travel to Northeast Ohio for state events, I can assure you a six-hour round trip for a high school game is a hassle.
