Lots of state tournaments are held on the East side. My son's state baseball tournament was at GESA in Pasco a number of years back and we went, no problem. Schools like Neah Bay travel farther (8 hrs) than any East side school every year for the 1B state basketball tournament in Spokane. Volleyball is in Yakima every year.
It's not some conspiracy by the West side to shut out the East. We'll travel wherever the tournament is at. The fact of the matter is there is no venue on the East side that can handle everything under one roof.
If they split it up, there will definitely be East side venues. The problem that you'll find is the WIAA is trending cheaper, not extravagant. The thought process will be "they hold 16 man bracket tournaments at high school gyms anyway every weekend, why should we shell out for four big stadiums?" We won't see separate tournaments in Showare, Angel of the Winds, The Sun Dome, and Spokane Arena. More likely, we'll see the tournaments in Lake Stevens HS, Mead HS, Juanita HS, and Davis HS (names chosen randomly, not for actual gym feasibility).
Hell, we could see a repeat of that regional this year split into two gyms, just as the "state" tournament! Do any of us want that? Hell no! But it's not outside the realm of possibility of happening.
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