MWSU to host future MSHSAA football championships
Apr. 30—Starting in 2025, Spratt Stadium will be the host of all Missouri State High School Activities Association's Show-Me Bowl Championship games.
In a statement released by MSHSAA on Tuesday, Missouri Western State University was selected to host the state championship football games for all classes from 2025 to 2028. Western won't have to wait long to get their chance to host a high school fan base, as the transition will begin slowly in 2024. Missouri Western will host only the 8-man state championship in 2024, while the state championships for classes one through six in 2024 will remain at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium at the University of Missouri. Except for the 2020 season, Faurot Field has been the main site for the MSHSAA football championships since 2017.
2024 will mark the first time Spratt Stadium will host a state championship since the stadium hosted the 8-man state championship back in 2007.
"I look at it as we've got a phenomenal partnership with the (Convention and Visitors Bureau) and the Sports Commission, and our Chamber of Commerce, and our mayor and our city. There's really something that's going on very positive here and so we juggle opportunities all the time, and this was just the next one that we felt like we could get," said Andy Carter, director of athletics at Missouri Western.
The announcement comes roughly six months after the deadline for proposals was reached in mid-November, and Western came out as the best fit to host. Carter said the idea of hosting the football state championships became realistic when Brett Esely, St. Joseph Sports Commission executive director and Mike Halloran, Western's associate director of athletics with facilities and operations, brought forth the idea in order to get the ball rolling.
"When they both felt good about it, they brought it to me and said, 'What do you think?' And I said, 'We gotta do this,'" Carter said. "If we can get it, we gotta do it."
Carter said there aren't any upgrades that need to be done in order to host the state football championships, however the only subject that will need to be discussed is how many days the state championship games will last at Spratt Stadium, whether it be over the course of two days or even longer.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter @NPNowMeikel.
