Nashville to Host FCS Championship Game in 2026 and 2027

FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt in Nashville will host the 2026 and 2027 Division I Football Championship games after a new venue was needed for those years.

Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, the host of the game since 2010, had been slated to host through 2027. In September, Frisco City Council approved a $182 million public-private partnership with FC Dallas to renovate the venue; the work will be a multi-year project, meaning a new venue was needed for 2026 and 2027.

The location of the game beyond 2027 will be determined in a future bid cycle. Nashville becomes the 11th city to host the Football Championship Subdivision championship game since 1978. It will be the first time the game has been played in Tennessee since Chattanooga hosted from 1997 to 2009. The games will be co-hosted by the Ohio Valley Conference and the Nashville Sports Council.

“On behalf of the committee, we are very excited to bring FCS football to Nashville,” said Matt Larsen, athletics director at North Dakota State and chair of the Division I Football Championship Committee. “We considered a number of finalists, but Nashville set themselves apart. The opportunity to continue to grow the game and our brand in a setting like this is something we know the FCS community as a whole will be excited about.”

The 2025 FCS championship game will be played January 6 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco.

“The city of Frisco and Toyota Stadium are incredible partners and have helped grow our championship to an exceptional level the past 15 years,” said Ty Halpin, NCAA director of championships. “Frisco holds a special place in the history of the championship and in the hearts of our institutions and fans. The committee looks forward to seeing the renovations to the stadium in Frisco.”