KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s been nearly 40 years since the Missouri State High School Activities Association staged its large-class football championship games in the Kansas City region, but that will change in 2025.
Arrowhead Stadium and Busch Stadium, the former home of the St. Louis Cardinals, alternated as the host site for all MSHSAA football state-championship games from 1982-86 — before Class 6 even existed — but the games for Class 2 or larger haven’t returned to the region since.
The last MSHSAA 11-man football championship game poayed in the Kansas City region was the 1987 Class 1 title game, which was played at William Jewell College in Liberty.
That will change in the coming years when the MSHSAA Show-Me Bowl games move to Missouri Western’s Spratt Memorial Stadium in St. Joseph.
Missouri Western will host the 8-man Show-Me Bowl game for the first time since 2007 next fall. It was last played in the Kansas City area in 2020 at Chillicothe High School.
The remaining 2024 MSHSAA state football championship games — Classes 1 through 6 — will remain at Mizzou’s Memorial Stadium in Columbia nexy fall before all seven state football title games will be at Spratt Memorial Stadium from 2025-28, MSHSAA announced Tuesday morning.
The Class 6 title game, which didn't exist until 2002, has never been played in the Kansas City area.
"We feel Spratt Stadium is one of the premier college venues in the state and for our university to be on display for the best of the best high school football teams across Missouri over these next few years is a win-win for everyone involved,” Missouri Western Director of Athletics Andy Carter said in a statement.
It’s the latest athletic competition to move to St. Joseph, which has beefed up its reputation as a destination for athletic events in recent years.
"We appreciate the work the cities put into this bid process, and we have taken this process very seriously," MSHSAA Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Rukstad said in a state announcing the venues. “We have an obligation to our membership to find not only the best facilities to host our championships, but also the best support from the host site to serve our schools’ needs. We are very excited about the next five years for the Show-Me Bowl.”
St. Joseph has hosted Kansas City Chiefs training camp since 2010, aside from the 2020 COVID-19 disruption, started a marathon last year that drew entrants from 30 states, and hosted the NCAA Div. II Women’s Basketball Championships each of the last two years.
“We have been extremely fortunate to host a wide variety of high-profile events over the last several months and cannot wait to welcome our state’s best high school football teams to an outstanding venue here in St. Joseph and Buchanan County,” Executive Director of the St. Joseph Sports Commission Brett Esely said in a statement. “In conjunction with our partner Missouri Western State University, we look forward to delivering an outstanding championship experience for all involved.”
St. Joseph also will host the Missouri volleyball championships in 2025.
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