Ohio Expo Center/Special to Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced on Monday morning that high school basketball district and regional level tournament games will be played at Taft Coliseum at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds located in Columbus.

Ohio Expo Center/Special to Portage Sports

It has been 10 years since the historic multi-purpose arena has hosted an OHSAA postseason game. The site had been the premier host of the OHSAA;s state tournament from 1923 to 1957 before the tourney moved to St. John Arena in 1958. The fairgrounds still hosted district and regional tournaments from 1959 through 2014.

“We have been working with the Expo Center on this for quite a while and are so excited to make this announcement,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said. “We are also excited to announce that girls basketball will now play tournament games at the Coliseum in addition to boys, which wasn’t done before. Reaching the Fairgrounds Coliseum was the goal for so many schools in Central Ohio for decades, and we are thrilled that the Coliseum will be that destination once again.”

Taft Coliseum has a capacity of 5,000 and has hosted a multitude of events in the past, including ice hockey.

“We are thankful for this great partnership with the OHSAA,” Ohio Expo Center Executive Director Adam Heffron said. “The Taft Coliseum is the perfect historic location to host postseason games, and we cannot wait to welcome players, coaches, families and fans back to the fairgrounds for years to come.”