Tallahassee FL- The FHSAA announced on Thursday that the 2023 high school football championships will be held at Bragg Memorial Stadium on the campus of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. The announcement was held on the newly dawned Ken Riley Field, which was named in honor of the recent Famu Hall Of Fame Inductee, the late Ken Riley.
The FHSAA will hold all 9 class championships at the venue, from December 7th through December 9th, 2023. The championships competed in two separate locations for the last two years (Tallahassee FL, Ft Lauderdale FL). Built in 1957, the stadium has a seating capacity of 19,633 and recently completed significant facility upgrades, including an expanded press box, press box elevator, lowered field by six feet, and two electronic scoreboards, one recently completed this Fall standing 33ft tall and 75 ft wide.
“It is an honor to partner with Leon County and the FHSAA to host the championship in our newly renovated Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium,” said Tiffani-Dawn Sykes, FAMU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, “This is an incredible opportunity to showcase FAMU statewide and welcome tens of thousands of high school football fans to Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium.”-FHSAA
“The FHSAA is excited about the upcoming Florida High School Football State Championships to be hosted on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee,” said FHSAA Executive Director, Craig Damon. “Creating opportunities for our student-athletes is a top priority of ours and finding a facility large enough to host the whole series in one location and welcome thousands that wish to attend, is a dream come true.
STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SITE ANNOUNCEMENT https://t.co/vFSaHthZfm
— FHSAA (@FHSAA) September 21, 2023
“We have worked with the folks at Visit Tallahassee and in Leon County for many years now with great success and we could not be more grateful for their efforts in making these championships a quality experience for the student-athletes of the State of Florida.”-FHSAA
Prior to moving to neutral site championship contests, the stadium previously served as the host site to two former state championship matchups in 1976 and 1978, when FAMU Developmental Research School (Famu DRS) won state titles.
Locally, no team advanced to the FHSAA state championships in 2022. The most recent was Trinity Christian, who won a state championship in 2021 at Gene Cox Stadium in Tallahassee, defeating Champagnat Catholic 41-23.
