The Alabama High School Athletic Association will continue to host football championships in Jordan-Hare Stadium through the next decade.
At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the Council approved a contract with the AHSAA, the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau and the City of Opelika to help host this event. The City of Auburn will put $75,000 toward funding for this event each year it is held in Auburn, according to documents in the Council’s e-packet.
With this contract renewal was a partial funding renewal, which will fund the championship for another cycle or two more events. These are for the Super 7 Football Championships in Jordan-Hare in 2022 and 2026.
After that time the Council will reevaluate funding for the championship to fund it for 2028 and 2032. The full contract was announced as a 12-year contract, said Mayor Ron Anders.
This contract also adds Birmingham’s Legion Field to the list of venues for the annual championship games.
“Now we’ll be sharing the event with Birmingham,” Anders said. “They’re building a new stadium. The way they built their stadium and its relationship to its municipal government allows them to do some things that made their bid very attractive.”
When the Super 7 was still the Super 6 in 2009, Anders, who was not yet a Council member, was a part of a committee of community members from Auburn and Opelika that worked with their cities and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to bring the championship to Auburn and the University of Alabama.
The original contract extended to 2020, with the championship alternating universities each year. Auburn first held the championship in 2010, according to documents in the Council’s e-packet.
“I believe that the young football players, young cheerleaders and young marching band [members] in the communities of our state still enjoy coming to Auburn and coming to Jordan-Hare Stadium and being a part of our community,” Anders said. “I’m glad that’s going to continue.”
This year’s Super 7 will be held in Auburn. Students and fans can expect several Auburn gameday classics when they attend their school’s championship game in Jordan-Hare. Before each game both teams will participate in a Tiger Walk to the stadium.
The Super 7 will take place Wednesday, Dec. 3, through Friday, Dec. 6.
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Elizabeth, senior in journalism and political science, is the community editor for The Plainsman
