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Both sides are right on this Trabuco Hills vs. San Clemente game venue activity.

Trabuco Hills is correct in that San Clemente’s on-campus Thalassa Stadium should not be the site for a CIF championship football game. The game should not be played at a participating team’s on-campus stadium.

San Clemente is correct in that it, as the host school, has the right to host the game at its on-campus Thalassa Stadium once the school adds seating and toilet facilities, and makes a better parking situation. Media facilities will remain inadequate, but that will be if everybody understands the hierarchy and handles that the same way pro and college teams do it.

The CIF-Southern Section constitution allows member schools to do what San Clemente is doing.

Who can change this? Member schools.

CIF-SS basketball playoff semifinals and finals are played at alternate sites, which are defined as sites at which the home team does not practice. The CIF-SS itself takes care of the home-gym business for the finals. For semifinals, the home team is in charge of securing the alternate site which must meet CIF-SS administration approval.

CIF-SS member schools should craft a proposal to have football semifinals and finals played away from host school’s on-campus stadiums. Have the coaches’ advisory committee work it out, and have an administrator bring the proposal to the CIF-SS Council, which is made up of member schools’ representatives and which creates, deletes or amends rules and by-laws in the CIF-SS constitution.

If schools don’t like something within CIF-SS, they have the power to change it. That happened in basketball, that should happen in football.