As the FCS Championship Media Day was ongoing this afternoon at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, several North Dakota State players and coaches were scattered on the west and south sides of the stadium stands, sitting down and staring at the field.
Their purpose of doing so was probably twofold — killing time for interviews to wrap up, and also to generate more focus/motivation of visualizing what needs to be done on that field in two days.
But it also gave off a sentimental vibe. Many more fans and administrators of NDSU who have visited Frisco 11 times since 2011 may stop and look around this weekend to take it all in.
That’s because the Frisco era for the FCS championship will be over after Monday’s title game between Montana State and NDSU. At least for now.
The stadium, the field, the stands, the north stage, the tailgating lots, and the surrounding restaurants, bars, and hotels have had memorable moments for thousands of people for the last decade-plus.
The Dallas suburb, which has become synonymous with the FCS championship game, has hosted the event since the 2010 season. It had become a routine destination for FCS followers and the fan bases of teams that frequented the game multiple times. As FCS playoff committee member and NDSU AD Matt Larsen said last year, “When you think about a championship location, every FCS program’s goal to start the year is to get to Frisco. So it has that similar Omaha feel for baseball or Oklahoma City for softball.”
But Toyota Stadium will begin a three-year, $182 million renovation after Monday’s game. Due to half-capacity limits during construction, the NCAA put out a bid process for other cities to host the championship game in January 2026 and 2027.
Nashville was awarded the bid.
Other cities that reportedly submitted official bids were Frisco, Houston, St. Louis, and Kansas City, while other cities had conversations about potentially hosting.
“One of the things that stood out with Nashville is they’ve hosted bowl games in the past. And this is akin to a bowl game,” Larsen, who was chair of the playoff committee this season and helped with the vetting process of host sites, said. “They are used to putting on a really good experience. And then I think just the destination. When you think about fan bases traveling, you want to have a place where it’s not just the two teams and those participating fan bases, but you’re seeing other fans or other folks come. Nashville put together a really good presentation from a team perspective, a fan perspective, and then also a financial perspective.”
The 2025 FCS championship is currently slated for Jan. 5, 2026, and the 2026 national championship is currently set for Jan. 4, 2027.
The location of the game beyond 2027 will be determined in a future bid cycle.
Frisco will certainly be in the mix to host the game again. The growth of the FCS championship is partially due to how Frisco runs the event with a big-time feel it deserves. Having diehard fan bases reach the title game also helps. FCS championship weekend has nearly a $10 million direct economic impact for the Frisco area, a number that jumps to $16 million after taking indirect and induced spending into account.
Vanderbilt’s renovated football stadium, FirstBank Stadium, will serve as the host site in Nashville, which will seat about 35,000 fans. The current capacity for Toyota Stadium is around 18,500 for the FCS championship.
The Nashville Sports Council and the Ohio Valley Conference will help facilitate and run the FCS title game.
“There were several things that made us interested in hosting this game, but No. 1 it’s the national championship,” Nashville Sports Council President Scott Ramsey, who is in Frisco this weekend, told HERO Sports. “An opportunity to host a national championship in Nashville is something we’ve always looked for opportunities to do. And this was an event that we thought we had a lot of components that they were looking for. Our partnership with Vanderbilt was important with their renovation and it being only a couple of miles from downtown.”
“We felt like the destination that time of year gave us an opportunity to do a really good job marketing and executing the experience for players, coaches, fans, and everyone that follows the FCS,” Ramsey added.
As Frisco has hosted the FCS title game for several years now, and mostly the same fan bases reaching the championship, it’s been a discussion for years amongst FCS followers about whether the game should be moved or not.
Has Frisco lost some of its luster? Is it time for something new?
The flip side of that is just how well Frisco has embraced this game. Hotels, restaurants, and bars roll out the red carpet for teams and fans. If you move the game elsewhere, will they treat the game like Frisco treats it? Will it get lost in the shuffle of a busier city?
That was important for the committee to weigh as they went through the vetting process. And Nashville looks to deliver.
“We heard that on the front of the bid process,” Ramsey said. “I think the thing that is different about our town from an event standpoint is that we’re very compact. We really put a lot of effort and focus on making it the event in the city, whether it’s through branding or where we locate events, how we structure fan activities, alumni events. Whether it’s a basketball tournament, a marathon, or bowl games, we’ve worked really hard to try to make it feel like a tight campus kind of feel. And we’re fortunate to have a downtown that does that. It’s all walkable. Hotels are there. And the entertainment district is there.”
A few years ago, a bar owner in the Frisco/Plano area told HERO Sports that the FCS championship weekend was “New Year’s, St. Patrick’s Day, and 4th of July in three consecutive days.”
Nashville should be well-equipped to handle that.
