SEC Softball Championships coming to Madison for next four years
MADISON- In 2021 the SEC Gymnastics were held in Huntsville inside the Von Braun Center, now five years later, the announcement on the coveted SEC Softball Championships will be coming to Madison and Toyota Field in 2027.
“This is a perfect way to introduce the Tennessee Valley to the world,” said Mark Russell, executive director of the Huntsville Sports Commission at the announcement at the SportsMED Stadium Club at Toyota Field of the four-year deal between Madison and the SEC.
This has been almost four years in the making and a complete team effort between Madison, Huntsville and Madison County came together to make this premiere event in North Alabama a reality. The first tournament will take place May 11-15, 2027 and will be the first tournament at a neutral site since Plant City, Fla. hosted the tournament over 20 years ago. The Championship Tournament has traditionally been held on a school campus similar to this year’s SEC Championship set to be held at the University of Kentucky.
The SEC Softball Championships will be national televised on ESPN and the SEC Network, thus showing the rest of the world what they are missing here in North Alabama. Coaches within the SEC have asked to explore a way to get a bigger stage for the tournament play.
“There were several cities vying for the tournament, but there are not a plethora of championship softball venues in the country so when Toyota Field hosted the softball game here in February, that process success presented us with a championship level playing surface for our tournament,” said Jeremy Hammond of the Southeastern Conference Championship Committee. “The entire environment surrounding Town Madison is fantastic. Teams can stay within 15 minutes of this stadium. After my first visit here, I told the SEC office, this team here is really ambitious as they will stay on the radar here as it’s evident how important this is to them. I was really struck by the alignment of the leadership here. We ultimately wanted to go where we were wanted and nobody did as good of job as the group here who expressed the desire to have our tournament here.”
“This has a great ring to it and our vision is clear of what this event means to our area,” said Garrett Fahrmann general manager of the Rocket City Trash Pandas. “Softball has a rich history in this area and we have the staff to handle this challenge.”
More on the announcement can be found in the April 22 printed edition of the Madison Record.
