AHSAA Announces Future Super 7 Championship Sites

MONTGOMERY, AL – Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Executive Director Heath Harmon has confirmed the future host sites for the Super 7 state football championships for the next four years. The upcoming events will rotate between Birmingham’s Protective Stadium and Mobile’s Hancock Whitney Stadium, located on the University of South Alabama campus. According to the plan, Birmingham will host the championship games in 2025 and 2027, while Mobile will welcome the Super 7 in 2026 and 2028.

Harmon presented the proposal during the Central Board of Control’s annual winter meeting held at the AHSAA office, where the board unanimously approved the plan.

“I want to thank all the cities that showed interest in hosting our Super 7 football championships in the coming years,” said Harmon. “All were impressive and could be outstanding venues for our Super 7 event. However, after much study and discussion, we concluded these two cities were our best options at this time. And I especially want to thank our Central Board for their guidance and support.”

Harmon emphasized that his AHSAA team devoted significant time to evaluating each site to ensure the selected locations were prepared for the demands of hosting such a major event. “We had to choose which sites we felt were ready to take on this major event right now,” he added.

A Look Back at Super 7 History 

The Super 7 State Championships evolved from the Super 6 Championship held in one location. Initially hosted at Birmingham’s Legion Field starting in 1996, the championship games at that time included all six state classifications at a single site. Before 1996, championship games were held at one of the competing schools, except for the largest classification, which began hosting its finals at Legion Field in the early 1970s.

This centralized location model remained until 2009 when Tuscaloosa/Northport and Auburn/Opelika submitted a shared plan to host championships at Bryant-Denny Stadium (University of Alabama) and Jordan-Hare Stadium (Auburn University). From then on, Super 6 games alternated between the two cities depending on which school was not hosting the annual Auburn-Alabama Iron Bowl.

The Super 6 became the Super 7 in 2014 after AHSAA expanded to include seven classifications. Birmingham rejoined the rotation in 2021 with the opening of its new Protective Stadium, which hosted the Super 7 in 2021 and 2024. The previously established three-city rotation ended when the expanded College Football Playoff created potential scheduling conflicts at both Auburn and Alabama.

A Bright Future for the Super 7 

The change to alternating hosts between Birmingham and Mobile marks a new chapter for the Super 7 State Championships. AHSAA acknowledges the contributions of previous hosts and partners.

“We are grateful to the cities of Tuscaloosa, Auburn and Opelika, Auburn University, the University of Alabama, and their tourism bureaus for taking the Super 7 championships to the next level,” Harmon said. “We think we now have an outstanding plan in place and look forward to continue working with Birmingham and now Mobile while striving to keep our Super 7 the envy of many other states across the nation.”

With this new plan in place, Birmingham and Mobile will now serve as primary venues to showcase Alabama’s gridiron talent, ensuring that the Super 7 remains a premier high school football championship event.