Nazareth vs. Wilson Turkey Day Game?

The Morning Call has an article on the continuing discussion regarding the return of a Nazareth-Wilson Thanksgiving Day Turkey Game (read it here).

Nazareth's board has already approved the game, so the decision now lies with Wilson.

Why Nazareth - Wilson? Good question. The two teams previously played a Thanksgiving game from 1926 to 1975. The two communities are nearby, though they don't border one another. Wilson is surrounded by the Easton School District. Easton, of course has Phillipsburg. To the north, Pen Argyl and Bangor are the rivalry. On our west is Northampton. This is a huge rivalry in wrestling and there was an attempt to expand it to other sports, but for football and Thanksgiving, they have Catasauqua. To the south is Bethlehem, and Freedom and Liberty have one another. Beca is available, but they tend to get orphaned as a non-public school. So in this regard, the pairing makes sense.

Why play?

Money. The schools probably won't lose money if they don't go to a neutral site in the early years. Renting a stadium such as Lehigh or Moravian could be costly when attendance isn't a known quantity.

Spotlight/Tradition/Extra Game. Many argue the rivalry game is good because no matter how your season was this one came can determine a successful season or not and build for the next year. It also extends the season which the coaches like because they can get a few extra weeks of legal practice with the kids to prepare for next season.

Why not play?

Extended season. For those who participate in winter sports it poses a challenge. This is probably more true for basketball than wrestling, but it impacts both. Northampton has traditionally not started its wrestling season on the first weekend of competition because many of their wrestlers play football and they know they have the Thanksgiving game.

Playoffs. Easton takes a week off during the year and plays one less regular season game to ensure they remain in compliance with PIAA regulations. Northampton does not. The trick is that the PIAA only allows so many games in so many weeks, and if one plays a full schedule, then competes on Thanksgiving,
and makes it through state tournament they play one too many. You also can have a situation like Easton has where you play Thanksgiving Thursday and that Saturday in the state tournament. You don't often see football teams on any level playing two regulation games in three days.

Match-Up. Many believe Nazareth should have remained in the Colonial League and that we are too small to be with the big schools. According to the above referenced article, if the PIAA moves to a six classification system, Nazareth will remain in the highest class, Whitehall will be 5A, Central 4A, and Beca 3A. We are a big school now. Northampton and Catty do it, so theoretically Nazareth and Wilson could, but with a 30+ year gap between games I think school size does become an issue and gives a decided edge to the large school.

Verdict?

Not my call. If I were AD and the idea was raised by my coach or the other school, I'd investigate it, but I don't think I'd be the one to initiate the discussion. I'm not opposed, but I'm also not enamored with the idea.

I think the biggest question, and I don't know if you can answer it without having the game, is not if people want to have the game, but if people would attend if you did have it.