AHSAA Super 7 Alabama high school football championships set through 2028
AHSAA Super 7 Alabama high school football championships sites are set through 2028, alternating between Birmingham and Mobile. Birmingham will host 2025.
- Many contracts for Alabama High School Athletic Association state championship venues are set to expire in the next few years.
- Contracts for basketball, tennis, and bowling championships will expire after the 2026 events.
- Baseball, softball, and soccer championship agreements are set to end following the 2027 seasons.
- The AHSAA begins renewal negotiations with host cities when a contract enters its final two years.
There could be plenty of shakeup with AHSAA sites for state championship events over the next couple of years with many contracts close to expiring.
At least three such contracts – for basketball, tennis and bowling state title events – expire after the 2026 championships. Baseball, soccer and softball will expire following the 2027 championships. Football, and with it flag football, will expire following the 2028 Super 7. The event was up for bid earlier this year, with a new rotation Birmingham and Mobile as the outcome.
The Mobile Sports Authority declined to share its Super 7 contract after a request from the USA TODAY Network. The City of Birmingham has not provided its contract after repeated requests.
AHSAA executive director Heath Harmon told the Montgomery Advertiser that once a championship contract enters the two-year period before it ends, the AHSAA starts to negotiate to renew it. Currently, the AHSAA has at least six sports championship events with that circumstance.
“Once we make it in that two-year window, we’re having conversations – and there’s times where at any given time, we could have several of those going on – but we have great relationships with those cities and those communities. And then (there are) times where we get to the point to where it’s time to discuss that next three-year phase or whatever, then we do that,” Harmon said.
Inside AHSAA contract for boys and girls basketball
The AHSAA’s agreement for boys and girls basketball state championships with the city of Birmingham, the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (Legacy Arena) runs through 2026.
In 2026, Birmingham and the GBCVB will pay the AHSAA $350,000 (and an additional $5,000 stipend for meals for event staff and VIPs) to host the combined state basketball championships. Birmingham will also provide police and fire department employees to work the event.
The BJCC provides full access to Legacy Arena, including locker rooms, medical rooms, arena equipment, operational staff and parking. If the AHSAA elects to bring its own playing floor, BJCC staff will be made available to help install it.
The AHSAA will then pay a rental fee of $115,000 for use of Legacy Arena. That fee can be offset by ticket sales to the championships, per the contract. The organization will also provide staff, event managers, officials, trophies and signage for the championships.
AHSAA contract agreement for baseball, softball
The AHSAA’s championship agreement with the City of Oxford and Jacksonville State University runs through 2027, with an option for all parties to extend it. Under the deal, Oxford’s Choccolocco Park will host softball and JSU’s Rudy Abbott Field will host baseball state championships. Both events take place in May.
Oxford pays an annual fee for softball ranging from $62,500 to $72,500, starting with the beginning of the agreement in 2023 and escalating through the 2027 championships.
JSU pays between $12,500 and $22,500 per year for baseball over the course of the deal.
Both hosts will also provide up to 10 complimentary hotel rooms each year for AHSAA staff, tournament directors and trainers.
All facilities, including stadiums, fields, locker rooms, dugouts, press boxes and meeting areas, are provided at no cost.
Oxford and JSU are responsible for most on-site operations throughout the events. That includes grounds crews, custodial services, gate workers, ticket takers, security, EMTs, press box staff, parking personnel and a hospitality area for AHSAA staff, officials, media and volunteers.
The hosts must also supply amenities including high-speed internet, copier access, media workspace and bus parking space.
The AHSAA handles the competitive side of the events, including trophies, medals, trainers, officials, pass-gate systems and online ticketing. Oxford and JSU retain all concessions revenue and receive a per-ticket parking fee that increases from $2 to $3 over the life of the contract, while the AHSAA keeps the remaining gate revenue.
Jacksonville State athletics director Greg Seitz told the Gadsden Times that the school wants to continue to hosting the state baseball championships and a regional basketball tournament that it has been hosting in recent years.
“We want to keep continue hosting both of those championships, and even if there’s opportunities, for us to get more involved with the high school athletic association. It’s been a great partnership for us,” Seitz said.
AHSAA All-Star Week in Montgomery
Currently no state championships are held in the state’s capital city, which is home of the AHSAA office. There are six AHSAA events held in the city, highlighted by All-Star Week and four regional championships (in basketball, softball, volleyball and wrestling), along with the annual Kickoff Classic at the start of football season. One contract covers all six events.
The City of Montgomery provides venues for those events at no cost but gets to keep concession and parking revenue. The city paid the AHSAA $195,000 to host during the 2025-26 season, a number that will rise to $200,000 next year, which is the final year of the current contract.
What’s next for AHSAA championships?
The next two years will see contracts for AHSAA softball, basketball and basketball expiring. Other state championship contracts will also soon expire. Following the 2026 championship events for both tennis and bowling, both hosted in Mobile, those contracts expire. Danny Corte of the Mobile Sports Authority told the USA TODAY Network that the group hopes to extend those contracts.
Another championship contract expiring soon covers AHSAA state soccer championships in Huntsville. The Huntsville Sports Commission told the USA TODAY Network that the deal ends after the 2027 event but would not provide financial details.
Having championship events in the northern and southern ends of the state – as with soccer in Huntsville and Mobile hosting bowling, tennis and now the Super 7 on a rotating basis – can create a travel burden on schools and fans from farther away. Harmon said that is a consideration with choosing venues.
“So that can’t be the only thing we’re looking at, but certainly we do try to consider that,” he said. “But we also don’t want a venue’s location to cancel it out, so to speak. The tennis championships that we do in Mobile have a phenomenal facility. The soccer championships that we do in Huntsville is a great facility.
“So geographical location wouldn’t be something that would just disqualify someone. But obviously location is an important part of the decision-making process.”
