Cookeville Loses BlueCross Bowl Bid

The BlueCross Bowl will not return to Cookeville next season.

The TSSAA Board of Control voted 11-1 following a marathon session to select Chattanooga as host of the 2021 and 2022 high school football championships. Chattanooga bid some $3,000 less in guaranteed revenue to the TSSAA. Cookeville’s obligation to TSSAA would have been $253,000 under the two-year term.

“Very disappointed that they have decided to move the Blue Cross Bowl,” County Mayor Randy Porter said. “We submitted what we thought was a very competitive bid. We’d hosted the event for the past 12 years and a lot of new things that we did that’s kind of become the gold standard for hosting the playoffs. And the moment, I guess in the end, we did the best we could and we wish Chattanooga’s the best hosting event for the next two years, no matter the reason.”

Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium provides more luxury accommodations for the association with 32 luxury boxes and has a new artificial turf field installed in 2020.

A sticking point to a new agreement was Tennessee Tech’s video board and whether the Cookeville Committee or the TSSAA would control in-game commercials on the board. Executive Director Bernard Childress said when Cookeville’s committee could not give TSSAA control, TSSAA’s attorney advised the board of control to move to Chattanooga.

“We have to have control of our sponsorships and its content or we would be in breach of contract with some of the companies we have signed on with,” TSSAA executive Director Bernard Childress told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “Basically, we were asking Cookeville to give us control of our event, but they couldn’t do that. They’ve been fantastic to work with through the years, and it’s not that we’re not happy with what they’ve done, but when our attorney informs us that we could be in breach of contract, that changed things and led to those board members who weren’t sure which side they were on to support the move.”

Childress said he looked forward to seeing how Chattanooga could grow the event. The city last hosted the state football championship in 1978.

Cookeville-Putnam County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Molly Brown said she is proud of the work the community did together, calling the 12-year run a game changer.

“We have approached this for 12 years as a team effort from law enforcement to EMA and fire, we could not have done this for this many years and in such a successful capacity without the team effort,” Brown said. “We plan to continue to build relationships with TSSAA, looking at other sports and other opportunities with them.”

Porter said the championships opened Putnam County to so many Tennessee residents who went past Interstate Drive for the first time to see all the community had to offer.

“It put us on the map for sure with folks that may never come through this area,” Porter said. “They’re traveling here and stay and spend the night or the weekend. And then we hear a lot of them that they loved so much, they’re coming back. So it did our community well.”

“And we’ll just have to look for for future endeavors to to try to continue to to help our community.”