The FCS Championship will be played in Nashville in 2026 and 2027, the NCAA announced Thursday.
The annual FCS Championship Game, officially titled the NCAA Division I Football Championship, has been played at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, since 2010. However, the stadium will soon begin a multi-year renovation.
The games in Nashville, which will conclude the 2025 and 2026 seasons, will be played at FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University. FirstBank Stadium is currently undergoing its own renovations and has a seating capacity of 40,350.
“On behalf of the committee, we are very excited to bring FCS football to Nashville,” said Matt Larsen, athletics director at North Dakota State and chair of the Division I Football Championship Committee. “We considered a number of finalists, but Nashville set themselves apart. The opportunity to continue to grow the game and our brand in a setting like this is something we know the FCS community as a whole will be excited about.”
According to the release, the location for the game beyond the 2026 season will be determined later.
“The city of Frisco and Toyota Stadium are incredible partners and have helped grow our championship to an exceptional level the past 15 years,” said Ty Halpin, NCAA director of championships. “Frisco holds a special place in the history of the championship and in the hearts of our institutions and fans. The committee looks forward to seeing the renovations to the stadium in Frisco.”
The FCS Championship for the 2024 season is slated for Monday, January 6, 2025, at Toyota Stadium in Frisco. The game will be televised by ESPN at 7:00pm ET / 6:00pm CT.
Checking flights from Fargo, Brookings, and Bozeman to Nashville…
Nashville excellent neutral site for FCS game.
Does the committee know that Nashville has an FCS team located not far from Vanderbilt – Tennessee State? And they want to bring FCS football to Nashville?
True.
This is The Championship Event.
The 16th Game of the Year for the 2 Champions.
This is also the only neutral site game.
It’s exactly like the N.F.L. setup, where the best regular season Programs host each round till The Championship Event.
TSU Tigers is a Championship Division 1 Team.
Only if they Won All 4 rounds in the Playoffs next year would your comparison be valid.
They were eliminated, on the road, last week, by 1 of the 8 seeded Programs playing this week.
Whoops. I apologize. My mistake.
The TSU Tigers were eliminated in the 1st round, on the road vs No. 14 Uni. MT Grizzlies in Missoula.
Lost 27 – 30 or 40 something.
This temporary move to Nashville feels like a trial run for the city (on a much smaller scale) in its aspirations of hosting larger football events (CFP, SEC championship, etc.) as the new Titans stadium will be targeting opening in spring 2027.
I’m with you, Stan. I’m not sure why Todd twisted your very straightforward comment into something so complicated.