Cookeville Lands TSSAA Football Championships
June 11, 2009
Cookeville lands 2009-2010 TSSAA Football Championships
COOKEVILLE — It's a winning moment for Cookeville-Putnam County, the Highlands and the Upper Cumberland region. They've just scored the privilege of hosting the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Football Championships for the 2009 and 2010 BlueCross Bowl games. This year's eight championship games will be played Dec. 3-5 at Tennessee Tech University's Tucker Stadium, and next year's games are scheduled for Dec. 2-4.
The nine-member TSSAA Board of Control made the decision by secret ballot and announced it to Cookeville officials on June 10. Cookeville competed with two larger cities — Chattanooga and Murfreesboro — for the honor. Cookeville offered a guaranteed bid of $250,000; Chattanooga bid $241,000; and Murfreesboro, which has hosted the tournament since 2000, tendered $231,000.
Besides their having the top bid amount, Cookeville's overwhelming desire to host the tournament went a long way toward landing them the deal.
"Cookeville showed a lot of enthusiasm and leadership and had the 12 counties that surround Cookeville and Tennessee Tech on board,'' said Bernard Childress, TSSAA's new executive director. "They all showed support."
Another factor in the decision was that Tucker Stadium, which has just over half the seats MTSU's Floyd Stadium does, is more easily filled and thus looks better on television. Tucker Stadium also sports a new field surface, a new track and new lights (125 vertical and horizontal foot candles, equivalent to LP Field), and is located within two miles of most of the hotels in Putnam County.
"It took a tremendous cooperative effort on everyone's part to make this happen," said Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Tom Lawrence. "It was a combined effort of the City of Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee Tech University, the Chamber and CVB, WCTE-TV, community business partners and leadership of the Highlands and Upper Cumberland region."
Hosting the tournament will be an enormous boon to the Cookeville economy. The city will receive 100 percent of gate receipts, concession, parking and program sales to offset the $250,000 bid amount. Then there are all the tourist dollars to consider.
"There are endless opportunities in this for our community, especially in this economy, because all those people will be eating, sleeping and shopping here," said Cookeville-Putnam County Convention & Visitors Bureau Coordinator Laura Canada. "We conservatively estimate this will generate at least a million dollars in terms of spending over that weekend."
The tournament will also create inestimable exposure for Cookeville as a destination. In the months preceding the event, the city's name will appear repeatedly in media coverage in the towns with teams competing for tournament slots, and especially in the 16 towns whose teams attend the Division I and II championships. And that's not counting the championship week itself.
"All eyes in the high school sports world will be on Cookeville, Tennessee, for that week," said Bob Bell, president of Tennessee Tech University and vice-chair of the Chamber's Economic Development division. "This will be our chance to shine and to focus attention on our area's many assets. We feel sure that once they see all we have to offer, the families who visit us will want to come back."
Chamber and TTU officials are currently working out a strategy to form a tournament planning committee. More details will be revealed at a later time. To see the full presentation that landed Cookeville the championships, check out www.cookevilleallaccess.com. For more information about Cookeville, go to www.mustseecookeville.com.
