Athens Drive will play at Garner in a match-up caused by the pod system -- Photo by Liz Condo
Since their inception last year in the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs, the "pods" used to form a bracket to cut down on travel has been a hot-button topic.
I'll leave my opinion out of it.
I couldn't begin to form an opinion until doing some number-crunching, which is what I'll present to you in this blog.
Pods exist to save schools mileage and money through the first three rounds. If, for whatever reason, this study does not find the pods to have saved mileage, then there is no reason for them. Looking into re-matches caused is another topic for another time.
We can only do the first round of travel today, but will try to compute mileage saved in round two and round three as the playoffs move along.
How I determined the mileage was simple and consistent: type in one destination and then the other into Google maps. Take the first option (usually the fastest) if there are multiple routes displayed.
It's of no surprise that the biggest impact the pod systems have are on teams seeded 9th or 10th who receive home games or on a team seeded 8th who must now play on the road. This is the reality of the pod system -- being in the upper half of your bracket does not necessarily mean you will host a playoff game, and being in the lower half doesn't necessariy mean you're on the road.
And, as I found out, that drastically shapes the study's numbers.
Last year's pods were said to have saved 8,000 miles in travel, but sometimes the pod creates its own "miles saved" by giving that 9- or 10-seed a home game.
To see just how much of an impact the create-your-own-miles-saved effect had on the numbers, I created two sets of data. The miles (for first round games) added or saved by the pod system and another set of the same data that excluded those in which teams who were changed from a "road team" to a "home team" and vice versa.
The second number gets rid of outliers who only exist because of the pod system, and lets you know how the other teams are being affected.
Why are miles so important that the NCHSAA wants to cut down on them? For starters, fewer miles means keeping kids in school longer on those Friday afternoons.
Also, miles = money spent by the school system.
Why is money so important? You'll know by the time the summer comes around and you're hearing about budget cuts from certain school systems, with some of those planned cuts coming to athletics. Or maybe when a likable coach loses his teaching position and has to go to another school. Or maybe when a coach wants to step down from his or her position, but has to keep coaching because there was a hiring freeze and nobody had to fill it.
The reason behind pods are for money-saving reasons (and maybe as a byproduct, money-making? Are first-round ticket sales are up from previous seasons, given some teams and their fans are having to make shorter first-round trips? We would need figures from the NCHSAA after round one is completed). To look at anything else is to miss the point.
So if you'll keep reading below, you'll see how all eight halves of the NCHSAA playoffs fared (for first-round travel) with the creation of pods.
It's a lot of numbers, so I apologize. I tried to keep everything as organized as possible, and include as much necessary information as possible.
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Number of round-trip miles saved in first-round travel under pod system (all teams): 5,364.7
Number of round-trip miles saved in first-round travel under pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes created by the pod): 3,943.2
Number of teams who added to their first-round travel mileage: 41
Number of teams who saved first-round travel mileage: 69
Number of teams who saw no change: 146
Number of games that saw no change in first-round match-up at all (pod still seeded a 1-vs-16, etc.): 25
Number of teams who lost or gained a first-round home game under pod system: 24
Miles saved per team who saw change: 48.8 miles per round-trip including all affected games.
Miles saved per team who saw change -- excluding those 8/9/10-seeds who had home/away game changed because of pods: 45.9 miles per round-trip
Percentage of playoff teams who saved mileage with pods: 26.9%
Percentage of affected teams who saved mileage with pods: 62.7%
So in conclusion, the pods saved mileage for just more than a quarter of all playoff teams. The majority of those teams that were affected did see a decline in miles traveled for the first round.
However, 48.8 round-trip miles saved per those 110 teams that were affected doesn't seem to be a sizable difference. But it does seem to be helping all schools involved, not just those teams who are now playing at home rather than traveling a long distance. The 48.8 figure wasn't much different than the one we got when excluding the outliers -- teams who had a home game moved to an away game or vice versa -- with 45.9 round-trip miles saved.
Although 12 teams added considerable mileage due to lost home games, the 12 teams who received home games outweighed them in travels saved. Altogether, those 24 teams saved an average of 137.4 miles.
I hope these numbers have helped you shape what you think of the pod system.
Below is an in-depth look at each half of each bracket. Only two of the eight saw their mileage go up as a whole. I've also listed the teams who benefitted or were adversely affected the most by the pods in my "biggest winner/loser" section. In most cases, these were tied in with teams who had either just had a home game given to them or taken away.
1A East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): none -- actually added 69.1 miles of round-trip travel
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): none -- actually added 11.8 miles of round-trip travel
Biggest loser: North Duplin loses home game, travels 133.4 more miles round-trip
Biggest winner: Chocowinty Southside gets home game, saves 76.1 miles round-trip
1A West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 1,390.6 miles, round trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 1,014.6 miles, round trip
Biggest loser: Robbinsville loses a home game, must travel 454 miles round-trip
Biggest winner: Clinton's Union High gets home game, saves 830 miles round-trip
1AA East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 511.8 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 343 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: East Montgomery loses home game, travels 268 miles round-trip
Biggest winner: Gates County getting a home game saves 436 miles round-trip
1AA West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams):163.6 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): none -- actually teams travel 56.8 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Central Academy, who instead of going 3.2 miles up the road to Monroe, must travel 245.6 miles round-trip to Mt. Airy.
Biggest winner: South Stokes won't have to go 376 miles with its new home game
2A East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 846 miles saved round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 686.8 miles saved round-trip
Biggest loser: Tarboro loses home game, travels 156.8 more miles round-trip
Biggest winner: South Columbus gets home game, saves 316 miles round-trip
2A West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 393.6 miles, round trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 303 miles, round trip
Biggest loser: Carver loses home game, travels 85.8 miles round-trip
Biggest winner: Draughn gets home game, saves 176.4 miles round-trip
2AA East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 322.8 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 127.2 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Franklinton loses home game, makes 120.4 miles round-trip
Biggest winner: Topsail gets a home game, saves 316 miles round-trip
2AA West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): none -- actually adds 107.6 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): none -- actually teams travel 43.8 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Newton-Conover -- who instead of going 10.6 miles up the road to Bandys, must go Chase High for 124 miles round-trip.
Biggest winner: East Davidson -- who instead of going 89.1 miles down the road to Forest Hills, saves 60.2 miles round-trip by going to South Iredell.
3A East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 131.8 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): none -- actually added 91.8 miles of round-trip travel
Biggest loser: Eastern Alamance loses home game, travels 162.4 miles round-trip
Biggest winner: West Carteret gets home game, saves 386 miles round-trip
3A West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 66.2 miles, round trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 66.2 miles, round trip
Biggest loser: Only one -- West Iredell travels 151.2 miles farther by playing East Henderson instead of Concord
Biggest winner: Only one -- Northwest Cabarrus saves 217.4 miles round-trip by playing Concord instead of East Henderson
3AA East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 334.2 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 357.8 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Nash Central loses home game, travels 195.8 miles round-trip
Biggest winner: Chapel Hill gets a home game saves 172.2 miles round-trip
3AA West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 100 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 100 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Gastonia Ashbrook, who instead of going 30.5 miles to Gastonia Forestview, must go 177 miles round-trip to Asheville Erwin
Biggest winner: Charlotte Berry Academy, who saves 198 miles round-trip by going 25 miles down the road to Waxhaw Marvin Ridge instead of Asheville Erwin
4A East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 493.2 miles in round-trip travel
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 386.6 miles in round-trip travel
Biggest loser: West Johnston's home game turns into an 88-mile round-trip contest at Fayetteville Cape Fear
Biggest winner: Wilmington Hoggard, who saves 297.8 miles of round-trip travel by playing cross-town rival New Hanover instead of Southern Durham.
4A West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 1.6 miles, round trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 33.4 miles, round trip
Biggest loser: Huntersville Hopewell, who will gain 169.5 miles of round-trip travel by playing at Asheville Roberson instead of at Porter Ridge.
Biggest winner: Western Guilford, who instead of playing at Boone Watauga, saves 169.5 miles of round-trip travel by going 34.2 miles to play Winston-Salem Mt. Tabor.
4AA East & Mideast
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 338.4 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 338.4 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Only one -- Wilmington Laney's trip to Wakefield is 32 miles longer in round-trip travel than it ould have been to Fuquay-Varina.
Biggest winner: By playing at Leesville Road and not at Fayetteville Jack Britt, Broughton saves 139 miles round-trip.
4AA West & Midwest
Number of miles saved in pod system (all teams): 447.6 miles round-trip
Number of miles saved in pod system (only teams not affected by home/away changes): 390.4 miles round-trip
Biggest loser: Northwest Guilford's home game turned into 176.8 miles of round-trip travel to Richmond County
Biggest winner: Charlotte Myers Park will save 169 miles of round-trip travel by playing Charlotte Olympic instead of East Forsyth
