Rome, Georgia, Receives One-Year Extension as Host Site for NAIA Football National Championship Game

October 1 - Rome’s Barron Stadium will be the host site for the 2010 NAIA Football National Championship, slated for Saturday, Dec. 18. That announcement was made Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, by Dennis Green, manager of championship sports for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics at a news conference held at the stadium.

Shorter College and Rome-Floyd County have hosted the football championship event since 2008, when a capacity crowd of 6,500 watched No. 2 University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) defeat No. 1 Carroll (Mont.) College, 23-7.

“Last year’s NAIA championship event was an incredible success despite the torrential rains that we had practically all week,” said Rome attorney Bob Berry, who co-chairs Rome’s NAIA Host Committee. “We have been told by the NAIA that they would love for Rome and Floyd County to be a long-term home for this event, but the rainy weather we had, following on the heels of a muddy 2007 championship, brought some calls for relocating the game to a venue with artificial turf. We asked the NAIA for a one-year extension based on the success of the 2008 game to give us time to see if improvements could be made to Barron Stadium that would help us keep this game for a number of years. We are happy that they have granted that request.”

The proposed $42.29-million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) package includes $3.36 million for renovations to Barron Stadium. The measure will be decided by voters in Rome, Cave Spring and Floyd County on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

“The fate of the SPLOST project will determine whether 2010 will be our final year for hosting the NAIA football national championship,” Berry said. “The 2008 game generated a $1.5 million economic impact for this area, and we believe the investment in Barron Stadium would see considerable returns through the extension of the NAIA contract.”

The 2009 Russell Athletic-NAIA Football National Championship game will be played at 12 noon on Saturday, Dec. 19, at Barron Stadium. Tickets for the game are $25 and are available for purchase from The Forum by calling (706) 291-5281, (800) 858-7601, or visiting www.forumevents.org.

Also available are tickets for other championship events, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Champions of Character Breakfast, which will be held Thursday, Dec. 17, at 8 a.m. at the Forum, and the NAIA Banquet of Champions, which will be held Friday, Dec. 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Forum. Tickets for these events are $25 for an individual or $200 for a table (seats 8).

For more information on the 2009 game, visit www.naianationalchampionship.com.

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