MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – It took overtime, but ultimately Chattanooga was awarded a huge win Tuesday in its bid to host the BlueCross Bowl football state championships.
After much debate and an early deadlock in voting during the marathon meeting at Siegel High School, the TSSAA Board of Control eventually voted 11-1 in favor of granting Chattanooga the hosting rights for the 2021 and 2022 seasons over Cookeville, which had hosted the event for the past 12 years.
“It is extremely important that the community knows we legitimately did this as one,” said Tim Morgan, chief sports officer of Chattanooga Sports. “We had so many people coming together to give advice and feedback to help make our presentation the best it possibly could be.
“It’s not a cliché to say this was very much a team effort by many to get us to this finish line. Who cares if it took overtime, we were successful together. We as a community couldn’t be more blessed with how everyone worked to make it happen.”
The BlueCross Bowl – which the Cookeville-Putnam County Visitors Bureau estimated to have an annual economic impact of $2.5 million to $3 million – consists of nine championship games (six classifications for public schools and three for private schools) with three games played each day over three days in early December.