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High school basketball players, coaches and fans have longed for every team that reaches the state tournament to get the opportunity to play at State Fair Arena, also affectionately called “The Big House.”

Due to state tournaments being three days and a limited amount of time to get in all the games, that request hasn’t been a reality.

Until this year.

COVID-19 has wrecked a lot of things in the past year, but now it’s providing an opportunity for every Class A and B state tournament team to play in the storied arena.

The OSSAA announced this week that state tournament games will begin on Tuesday, March 2, as opposed to two days later.

State Fair Arena will host six games a day through Friday and then all four state title games on Saturday, March 6.

In normal years, only one group of state tournament teams was guaranteed to play at The Big House.

Three sub-sites were used for other state quarterfinal games.

Butthis year, withschools unable or reluctant to host, the OSSAA had to get creative. That led to beginning the state tournament two days earlier and playing all at the main arena.

The following week, Classes 2A-4A, will see much the same schedule, but two sub-sites will still be required to host quarterfinal games.

But it’s not all good news (COVID won’t allow that).

During a Zoom meeting with media on Tuesday, OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson said that while many district, regional and area tournaments are allowing 50 percent capacity, the State Fair Arena management will only allow 25 percent for the state tournaments.

That’s about 2,100 fans.

“We’re still thankful for that,” Jackson said. “We thought back in July, for the sake of being able to have activities, we didn’t know if we’d be able to have fans at all.

“So we’re thankful to get that to provide some fans the opportunity to experience our championships, but more than anything else, we’re thankful for our kids to get to have their championships this year.”

While Classes A and B were able to complete their state basketball tournaments in 2020, Classes 2A-6A saw theirs canceled, which also led to the entire spring sports seasons being canceled as the pandemic was in its early stages in the United States.

The limited attendance and social distancing measures means there will be no floor seating for fans this year.

Other changes this year include:

- OSSAA comp passes for administrators, coaches and other school personnel will not be honored at the state games in order to allow more fans to attend;

- Staff will clear the arena after each game;

- Session tickets will not be sold this year. Per-game tickets at $5 each will be sold;

- All tickets will be electronic. There will be no paper tickets able to be purchased on site;

- Masks will be required inside the arena.

“There will be law enforcement officers canvassing the arena during games,” said David Glover, OSSAA assistant director. “If they see someone not wearing a mask, they’ll be politely asked to put theirs on. If they continue not to wear it, they’re going to be escorted out of the arena.”

Jackson said he realizes the limited attendance will keep many fans from attending this year.

“We know this is not ideal. We know there’s going to be people who have attended many, many years who may not get opportunity this year and we hate that,” he said.

Following is a schedule for games to be played at State Fair Arena next week. Once area tournaments are completed, teams will be added:

Tuesday, March 2

9:30 a.m. - B girls guarterfinal

11:30 a.m. - B girls guarterfinal

2 p.m. - B girls quarterfinal

4 p.m. - B girls quarterfinal

6:30 p.m. - B boys quarterfinal

8:30 p.m. - B boys quarterfinal

Wednesday, March 3

9:30 a.m. - B boys quarterfinal

11:30 a.m. - B boys quarterfinal

2 p.m. - A girls quarterfinal

4 p.m. - A girls quarterfinal

6:30 p.m. - A girls quarterfinal

8:30 p.m. - A girls quarterfinal

Thursday, March 4

9:30 a.m. - A boys quarterfinal

11:30 a.m. - A boys quarterfinal

2 p.m. - A boys quarterfinal

4 p.m. - A boys quarterfinal

6:30 p.m. - B girls semifinals

8:30 p.m. - B girls semifinals

Friday, March 5

9:30 a.m. - B boys semifinals

11:30 a.m. - B boys semifinals

2 p.m. - A girls semifinals

-4 p.m. - A girls semifinals

6:30 p.m. - A boys semi-finals

8:30 p.m. - A boys semifinals

Saturday, March 6

1 p.m. - A girls championship

3 p.m. - B boys championship

6 p.m. - B girls championship

8 p.m. - A boys championship