The NCAA has agreed to a five-year extension with Frisco, Texas, to continue holding the Division I Football Championship title game at Toyota Stadium, hosted by the Southland Conference, the city of Frisco and Hunt Sports Ventures.
The extension will keep the championship game in Frisco through 2025 (for the 2024 football season), with an option for the 2026 championship.
Brad Teague, chair of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee and the director of athletics at Central Arkansas, expressed strong support for the extension.
“The Division I Football Championship game has been warmly embraced and supported by the city of Frisco for nearly a decade, and the committee has consistently received positive feedback from past student-athletes, coaches and fans,” Teague said. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with the city of Frisco, Hunt Sports Ventures and the Southland Conference.”
“We’re honored to have the opportunity to crown national champions in Frisco through 2025,” Mayor Jeff Cheney said. “The FCS community has become family to Frisco. That’s why it was important to the Frisco City Council to reinvest in Toyota Stadium in the form of improved locker rooms, seating, video boards and media accommodations. This game is estimated to have a regional economic impact of more than $8.1 million. But just as important, it helps promote our brand as Sports City, U.S.A.”
In partnership with Toyota Stadium and FC Dallas, City of Frisco and the Frisco Independent School District, a $58 million construction project in the south end zone was completed and opened this past October at Toyota Stadium, which directly benefits the NCAA Division I Football Championship title game. The new facility is home to the National Soccer Hall of Fame and includes more than 17,000 square feet of two separate game-time hospitality areas; 3,290 premium covered seats; two 100-person locker rooms; a news conference room; five high-definition LED video boards; a new distributed sound system; and other additions that help enhance the NCAA FCS championship.
More than 150,000 fans have attended the championship game in Frisco over the past eight years, with an average crowd of nearly 19,000. The championship game for the 2018 season, featuring North Dakota State and Eastern Washington, is set for noon Eastern time Saturday at Toyota Stadium.
The Southland Conference will continue to serve as host of the Division I Football Championship title game, and Commissioner Tom Burnett said the conference is excited to continue the partnership.
“The Southland Conference and its member institutions are thrilled to maintain our valued position as the host conference of the NCAA Division I Football Championship game,” Burnett said. “Along with our Team Frisco partners, we’ve been very proud to build a premier national championship event over the past nine years and look forward to continuing to provide FCS institutions and game participants a rewarding and memorable postseason experience.”
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