The Division 2 football national championship game is relocating to the state of Texas for the first time in over 30 years. The Lone Star Conference will be the host conference for the championship game, which will be played in McKinney Independent School District Stadium, a luxury 12,000 thousand seat high school football stadium that cost $70 million to build.
The NCAA Division II Championships Committee approved the recommendation to use the stadium as the host venue for the D2 title game on Thursday.
“As a committee, we had in-depth discussions regarding the expectations that we have for the venue that would serve as host for this premier Division II Championship,” said NCAA Division II Football Committee chair Reid Amos. “Where we landed was a preference for a neutral site venue in an accessible location with 10-15,000 seats and outstanding amenities to provide our student-athletes with a truly unique championship experience. We are confident that McKinney ISD Stadium, partnered with The Lone Star Conference as host, will allow us to deliver that experience and we look forward to another memorable playoff season and championship game.”
It is unknown if the game will be played in McKinney beyond 2018. The game was moved in the first place because of the playing surface at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City being renovated and no guarantee the surface will be ready by the time the D2 championship game is to be played.
Relocating the game could also lead to a boost in attendance, depending on what school or schools are playing in the game. Last year’s title game was played between Texas A&M - Commerce and West Florida but drew a crowd of just 4,529 fans in Kansas City. Had that game been played in Texas, perhaps the crowd would have been larger. Of course, the history of the attendance for the D2 national championship game rarely pushes 10,000 fans for any one game, so who knows if that would have mattered anyway.
But the fact that some D2 football players may get to play the national championship game in a high school football stadium that is superior to their home stadium is pretty fun to think about.