IHSA moves state finals to Illinois St.

It’s back to Bloomington-Normal for the state football finals.

The Illinois High School Association on Wednesday approved a contract for Illinois State to host the state football finals in all classes at Hancock Stadium from 2023 to 2027.

Hancock Stadium hosted the IHSA’s first-ever football state finals in 1974. It was also the site for more than 100 football state championship games from 1974 to 1998.

Craig Anderson, the IHSA’s longtime executive director, was pleased with the decision made by the board of directors at its regularly scheduled meeting.

“We appreciate all of the hosting bids we received,” Anderson said in a news release. “Seeing the passion that these university communities have for hosting the state finals and the amazing stadiums that each campus offers didn’t make for an easy decision.

“Ultimately, the firstclass facilities, amazing support from Illinois State University and the Bloomington-Normal communities and the central location proved to be the biggest factors in returning to ISU for the next five years.”

Only four venues have hosted the state finals for high school football in Illinois. Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois in Carbondale also submitted bids to host from 2023 to 2027.

Illinois, which hosted all classes from 1999 to 2012 and then on a rotating basis in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022, submitted a bid to host in 2024, 2026 and 2028.

Northern Illinois and Illinois have been basically rotating as host sites since 2013 due to the Illini’s Big Ten schedule.

“This decision wasn’t made lightly, as Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois have been incredible hosts for us through the years,” Anderson said. “We have a tremendous relationship with Champaign-Urbana.”

Besides Illinois, Illinois State and Northern Illinois, Northwestern is the only other university to share hosting duties, as the IHSA split the classes at ISU’s Hancock Stadium and Northwestern’s Dyche Stadium from 1980 to 1984 in adapting to the expansion of football from five to six classes.

Illinois will continue to host boys basketball and boys wrestling among the major sports. Illinois State has been a hub for major girls sports — volleyball and basketball.