Hurtado introduces bill for neutral-site state football championships

Feb. 16—Jerald Pierucci watched his Shafter Generals lose on a muddy field in Orland in the CIF Division 5-A state football title game on Dec. 10, the same day that six higher-division teams battled for titles in the comparatively luxurious digs of Saddleback College.

In the months since, he and the Shafter community have transformed their defeat into legislative progress. On Tuesday, State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, introduced California Senate Bill 486, which if passed will require all state championship games for football to be played at neutral sites. Proponents say it would benefit rural and smaller schools in the Central Valley and beyond.

The bill would nullify the CIF's current arrangement, which dates back to 2015 and in 2022 had only five of the 15 state championship games played at a central site (Saddleback) and the rest at host high schools. It would also bypass the organization's method of effecting change via the CIF Football Advisory Committee.

"This is an equity issue," said Shafter athletic director Brian Feaster. "It has nothing to do with the game itself, other than its flat-out equity. It's not an advisory issue, this is more of a state issue. This should have been done by the executive director."

Feaster, who currently sits on the CIF Central Section's Board of Managers, said the advisory committee lacks power and "just says, 'Hey, this is what we would like,' and then it goes to your Board of Managers per section."

Instead, Pierucci reached out to and brainstormed with former State Sen. Dean Florez, a supporter of the Generals' run to the state championship, and the pair met with members of Hurtado's office.

"To actually see it put into paper and then put on the floor is pretty cool," Pierucci said, "and kudos to Senator Hurtado for taking (on) an issue that really does affect the Central Valley."

Reached via email for comment on the bill Wednesday, a spokesperson for the CIF said the organization was aware of it and added, "We look forward to discussing this legislation with Senator Hurtado."

Pierucci and the bill itself argue that because only higher-division schools get the opportunity to play at a neutral venue like Saddleback, small schools are treated unfairly.

"Those schools that play in lower divisions will never get the chance to play a championship game at a college stadium," the text of the bill reads. "Instead, they are forced to play at their own field, or a field of a similarly-situated high school, where lower quality facilities that pose safety risks to football players are prevalent."

From an equity standpoint, Feaster compared it to the situation of the state girls wrestling championships, which were previously held at a smaller venue than the boys wrestling championships. Now, since 2019, both have taken place at Mechanics Bank Arena.

"There are programs that set foot on the field in July that, no matter how good they do, will never have that opportunity to have that experience of playing on that nice field," Pierucci said.

He added that it's not just about the field itself but also the trappings of a high-stakes game: TV timeouts, locker rooms and other facilities. In Orland, he said, "it was nothing."

Hurtado's bill requires only a "neutral location that is comparable to the location of all other championship games," where "neutral location" means "a venue or site that is not the home ground of either team." This would seem to leave the door open for situations like San Jose-Bellarmine Prep, which does have its own football field, hosting Laguna Hills at local San Jose City College, as it did in 2022.

Emailed questions to Hurtado's office about this definition of "neutral location" were not returned. Pierucci said his hope is for the CIF to put all of its games at one or two central venues, as he believes no school should have home-field advantage in a state championship.

According to the state's legislative tracker, Hurtado's bill has been assigned to the Committee on Rules and printed, and can be acted upon beginning on March 17.

Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.