After exploring college options, WPIAL to keep basketball finals in high school gyms

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, March 5, 2021 | 12:36 PM

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With gathering limits increased statewide, the WPIAL looked into renting a college venue for its basketball championships, but decided to use high school gyms as originally planned.

Petersen Events Center had hosted the championship games since 2015, but Pitt isn’t allowing outside groups to rent its facilities because of covid-19 concerns, WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said.

The WPIAL also reached out to Duquesne and Robert Morris but found those arenas weren’t cost-effective options, she said.

Instead, the WPIAL will stick with its original plan and hold this year’s 12 basketball finals at multiple high school gyms. The championship games are March 12, 13 and 15.

“We did reach out to all of those venues to see if it made sense,” Scheuneman said. “For this year, we’re going to stick with the high school venues. We’ll make sure it’s a good event and a safe atmosphere for the kids.”

The WPIAL hasn’t announced which high school gyms it intends to use. Previously, Scheuneman said 10 schools submitted bids to host. Championship sites will be added to the brackets after the quarterfinal rounds.

“We want schools and facilities to know what to plan for a week in advance,” Scheuneman said.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday that gatherings at indoor events are now limited to 15% regardless of venue size. Previously, there was a three-tiered system based on a venue’s size, and all indoor events were capped at 500 people.

That increase prompted the WPIAL to consider finding a larger venue to host.

Petersen Events Center seats around 12,500 with 15% totaling 1,875. However, despite increased gathering limits, Pitt allowed only 500 spectators into its men’s basketball team’s regular-season finale Tuesday because the campus remains under an “elevated risk” status.

Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center seats 4,000 and Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse holds 3,500, meaning at most the WPIAL might have sold 600 tickets.

Many of the WPIAL’s biggest high school gyms seat around 2,000 with additional areas for standing-room access. North Allegheny, one of the largest, seats 2,400.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.