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Nashville bids for 2025 and 2026 FCS national championship game to be played at Vanderbilt

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Nashville bids for 2025 and 2026 FCS national championship game to be played at Vanderbilt

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The next big sports event that comes to Nashville could be the Football Championship Subdivision national championship game.

Nashville Sports Council president and CEO Scott Ramsey told The Tennessean his staff made a presentation and submitted a bid to the NCAA FCS committee on Nov. 22 to host the championship game in 2025 and 2026.

Vanderbilt and the Ohio Valley Conference partnered with the Sports Council in putting together the bid, which included proposing both championship games be played at Vanderbilt’s newly renovated FirstBank Stadium (30,000 capacity).

“We have our fingers crossed,” Ramsey said. “We’re hopeful in the next couple of weeks they (FCS committee) will make a decision and hopefully it’s Nashville and we can kind of get rolling and start working on it. I believe they want to decide on the next city as soon as possible.”

Ramsey told The Tennessean in November the Nashville Sports Council will also bid on the Football Bowl Subdivision CFP championship, which would be played at the new Tennessee Titans $2.2 billion stadium. The earliest that bid would be made would be for 2028 after the Tennessee Titans have played one season at the new stadium.

The 2024 FCS national championship game will be at Toyota Stadium (20,500 capacity) in Frisco, Texas, on Jan. 6. It will mark the 15th time the championship game has been at that venue, which is a professional soccer stadium. Prior to that the championship game was played 12 consecutive years at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium (20,668 capacity).

Ramsey is taking a group to the championship game in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area to observe what goes into staging the event.

“To see all the moving parts in action at events like that really helps you tighten up your planning,” Ramsey said. “Especially since you’re going to be hosting it after only seeing it one year. You’re going to kind of be on the clock, so to speak.”

Ramsey said FirstBank Stadium’s size is ideal for what the FCS committee is looking for with hopes of increasing the game’s attendance.

“The new renovations at FirstBank will obviously be complete for next year and I think we’ve got a really good shot at filling it,” Ramsey said. “(The FCS) has been selling out in Frisco with the exception of COVID the last 13 years in a row. The new total capacity at FirstBank will be somewhere in the low 30,000s including the new club seats and south end zone. We think it’s the right size to hopefully increase attendance and provide a new destination for those fans.”

The 2025 FCS national championship game will be played on Jan. 5, 2026 and the 2026 national championship on Jan. 4, 2027. The game moved to the first Monday in January when the FBS national championship moved from that date to Jan. 20 this season when the CFP expanded to 12 teams.

The FCS national championship game is broadcast each year on ESPN in prime time.

The FCS is made up of 129 teams from 13 conferences. The playoff system includes 24 teams with eight conference champions earning automatic berths and 16 others receiving at-large berths.

This season Tennessee State and UT Martin earned at-large berths in the FCS playoff after each won a share of the Big South/OVC championship. Other FCS teams in the state along with Chattanooga include Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech and East Tennessee State.

Fox 17’s ‘Football Frenzy Live’ nominated for Emmy

WZTV’s Fox 17 “Football Frenzy Live” weekly show was nominated for best sports program at the 39th annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards.

The show, which airs on Fridays, previews the top high school football games each week in the Middle Tennessee area.

The show is hosted by Fox 17 sports anchor Jill Jelnick and features reporters Joe Dubin and Kaitlin Miller. Sarah Shiverdecker is the executive producer.

Other nominated programs in the category were Charlotte Sports Live (WJZY, North Carolina) and Panthers Blueprint (Carolina Panthers).

Cumberland adds women’s flag football

Cumberland is adding a women’s flag football team, which will begin competing in 2025-26.

Cumberland will join 22 other NAIA programs, which already feature flag football.

The Phoenix will play its home games at the school’s Nokes-Lasater Field.

“Women’s flag football is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States,” Cumberland athletic director Ron Pavan said. “Many local high schools are adding this to their programs, which will help in our recruiting efforts.”

The sport began at the NAIA level in 2021.

Shelby Golf Course reopened following renovations

Shelby Golf Course, Nashville’s oldest public course, has reopened after undergoing a $2 million renovation.

The 6,079-yard, par-72 course, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, had been closed since March.

Upgrades included combining winter and summer greens into a one green complex on each hole; a new irrigation system; replacing and expanding six tee boxes; cart path improvements; expansion of the practice putting green and renovations to the clubhouse.

The project was funded by the Tennessee Golf Foundation.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.

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