More bad news for the city of B'ham.
UA, Auburn team up to bid for state championships
By Tommy Deas, Executive Sports Editor
Published: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, February 16, 2009 at 10:36 p.m.
TUSCALOOSA | The Tuscaloosa Sports Foundation has teamed with Auburn to bid for the Alabama High School Athletic Association state football and basketball championships starting in 2010.
The bid was submitted Monday to the Bruno Event Team, which has a contract with the AHSAA to market the events, at the Alabama Sports Foundation offices in Birmingham.
Birmingham, which has hosted the Super Six football championships at Legion Field and AHSAA boys and girls basketball championship events since 1996, and Mobile also made bids for the championship events for 2010-13.
The University of Alabama will make Bryant-Denny Stadium and Coleman Coliseum available to host the events if Tuscaloosa's bid is successful. Under the proposal, the UA and Auburn campuses will alternate hosting football and basketball, with the football championships in Tuscaloosa in 2011 and '13 and the basketball championships at Coleman Coliseum in 2010 and '12. Auburn would host football in 2010 and '12 and basketball in 2011 and '13.
Don Staley, executive director of the Tuscaloosa Sports Foundation, said the bids will be sent to AHSAA offices in Montgomery and the state athletic organization's central board will make the final decision. Staley said he does not expect the central board to make a final ruling before the conclusion of the state prep basketball championship event, which is being held next Tuesday through Saturday at the BJCC Arena in Birmingham.
Jay Stewart, senior event director for the Alabama Sports Foundation, directed all questions to AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese. Efforts to reach Savarese Monday were unsuccessful.
The Tuscaloosa Sports Foundation, which is funded by the cities of Tuscaloosa and Northport and the Tuscaloosa County Commission, was started last May specifically to lure the state high school football and basketball championships to Tuscaloosa, as well as other athletic events.
'We know that we worked hard,' Staley said. 'We feel like we did due diligence. We worked with the appropriate officials to help make this presentable.
'It's potentially huge economically for the community.'
The AHSAA extended the bidding process to allow Tuscaloosa and Auburn's joint bid. Bids were originally due in December, but the deadline was pushed back to January and then to mid-February because the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau needed to meet with new Auburn football coach Gene Chizik to enlist his support.
Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.
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