The new contract announced Wednesday by the Alabama High School Athletic Association for the Super Six state football championships is for six years and will be played in
Bryant-Denny Stadium
in Tuscaloosa and
Jordan-Hare Stadium
in Auburn. Tuscaloosa will host the AHSAA's Super Six Championships beginning in December of this year. The games will then rotate on a year-by-year basis. It's set up so that whichever city does not host the
Iron Bowl
will have the Super Six.
The Super Six had previously been held at Birmingham's Legion Field every year since 1996. Prior to 1996, the Class 6A state championship game was held at Legion Field but the other five classifications played at home sites.
Birmingham was the only other city in the state competing for that event.
When contacted, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox was thrilled by the news. He said it was a joint venture by both communities, with significant help from both the University of Alabama and Auburn University.
"It was in the best interest of our community and the best interest of the University of Alabama," said Maddox. "It was an excellent opportunity for partnership and this was a success. This event defines that state for a week out of the year and the fact it will be celebrated in Tuscaloosa every other year is an exciting win for this community."
The city of Tuscaloosa agreed to provide logistical support. That means fire, police and transportation, among other support services. Maddox said it will be an "in-kind" donation.
"In addition, the city and county governments have agreed to support this financially with terms to be worked out in the near future," he said. "The University of Alabama will be working in tandem with the Tuscaloosa Sports Foundation in terms of facility usage."
Maddox declined to immediately detail the specifics of the bid. But he did share the numbers of the economic windfall for his community.
"We have a guesstimate," he said. "That it is probably going to equal a game day weekend for our city," he said. "That means all 12 teams will book up all 2,600 of our hotel rooms. That is clearly a $3 million to $4 million number right there. Then we figure when we finally put pen to paper that our city will see anywhere from $5 million to $7 million of economic impact for this event and it should grow yearly as we host the event in 2009, 2011 and 2013.
Birmingham does hang on to the basketball championship. The cities of Auburn and Tuscaloosa both coveted those championships, too. That event has been at The Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex Arena since 1994.
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford said he was disappointed. He said that Birmingham doubled its bids in order to compete with the two-city tandem.
"I had sweated what their results would be," he said. "All and all I'm delighted because, to be perfectly candid, we raised the offer so high because we knew what we were faced with - inadequate facilities."
Langford said the city continues to be threatened with losing venues until new facilities are built. Both the BJCC and the Legion Field are outdated and inadequate, he said.
"Had we moved on that domed stadium or just shown the intent, the football games would never have gone to Tuscaloosa," he said. "No matter how much paint we put on Legion Field, it is a stadium that has served the state well, but is outdated."
Still, Langford praised Alabama and Auburn for offering amenities that Birmingham could not.
"I'm a firm believer that you don't cry over spilled milk. Being on the campus of Alabama and Auburn - two of the largest football programs in the world - will give them much more exposure. They've got world-class facilities and that's one of the reasons we cannot draw super conventions here, because we don't have the facilities."