FLORENCE-The Shoals area will no longer host the NCAA Division II Football Championship Game. The NCAA announced Wednesday that the Division II football national championship game will be held at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas from 2014 through 2017. The winning bid was submitted by the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Kansas City Sports Commission.
Next season will mark the first-ever Division II title game in the midwest. The game has been 
played in Florence, Alabama, for the past 28 years. Shoals National Championship Committee Chairman Mitch Dobbins expressed disappointment over the loss of the game. He did say that the last 28 years that the Championship game has been in Florence has been a true labor of love. The 28th and last game to be hosted in the Shoals will be held at Braly Stadium on Saturday December 21. This has been the second longest continuous run for the championship game for any NCAA championship in any sport at any one venue, other than the Division I baseball in Omaha, Nebraska.
It was announced on Wednesday by the NCAA that the game will move to Kansas City Sporting Parks for the 2014 through the 2017 seasons. Sporting Park is the home of recent MLS Cup Champion, Sporting Kansas City. Sporting Park has never hosted a football game. “We are thrilled that we can partner with the Kansas City Sports Commission to bring these Division II national championship events to Kansas City,” MIAA Commissioner Bob Boerigter said.
For the first 13 years of its existence, the Division II Football Championship was played at five different locations 
under four different bowl names. When the Shoals area received the bid to begin hosting the game in 1986, the game began to be officially known as the NCAA Division II Football Championship Game, making it more than a bowl game, it became a national championship.
The Shoals added two national award programs to the activities surrounding the National championship, The Harlon Hill Trophy and the Division II Football Hall of Fame. Both of these programs are used to enhance the profile and exposure for both current and former Division II student athletes. Jeff Hodges, chairman for both programs said they do intend to continue the programs in some fashion but that time will be needed to determine how they would proceed in getting this done.
