The N.C. High School Athletic Association is hoping to move state football championship games to Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said he is hopeful of soon announcing that the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers will be in their state championship rotation this fall.
“We have had some discussions with the Panthers and are still in discussions with the Panthers about football,” Tucker said after the NCHSAA Regional tour that started Monday at Region 6 at the Cabarrus Events Center. “Hopefully, we will be able to announce something in the next couple of weeks.”
Charlotte hasn’t hosted a NCHSAA state title since 1987 — or eight years before the Panthers were born as an NFL expansion team in 1995.
Back then, it was Memorial Stadium hosting a 4A state title game between Garner and Harding. The venue that opened in 1936 has also hosted state championship games in 1943, 1947, 1959 and 1967. Locally, East Mecklenburg (1975 and 1977) and South Mecklenburg (1981) also have hosted football state title games.
Since 1989, the NCHSAA has rotated its football title games among college venues, starting with North Carolina’s Kenan Stadium. N.C. State (since 2002), Wake Forest (2012-17, 2019) and Duke (2004-06, 2017-19).
This year, the state will hold eight state championship games after the NCHSAA Board of Directors approved an increase in classifications from four to eight last spring.
“We’ve held many championships at N.C. State and at UNC in the past,” Tucker said. “This year, we know N.C. State will not be available due to some conflicts with the Lenovo Center so we won’t play championships there.”
Tucker and her NCHSAA staff came to Bank of America Stadium last month for the third annual “Keep Pounding” Classic, an even that brought high school football to the NFL stadium for the first time.
The Panthers hosted one game in 2023, two games last season and the Hough-South Pointe, S.C. and West Charlotte-Greensboro Grimsley doubleheader on Aug. 22.
“We came down as a staff and were really excited about what we saw with the high school football games there,” Tucker said. “The Panthers have been great, great supporters over the years. So we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to work something out.”
More venues needed
In addition to football — and due to the increase in the number of state championship games — Tucker said she and her staff have discussed additional championship game venues for several sports.
In basketball, she is hopeful of returning to Lenoir-Rhyne’s Shuford Gymnasium for eight boys’ and eight girls’ Western Regional title games that will send their winners to Winston-Salem’s Joel Coliseum for state championship contests. Tucker said that the regionals and state finals will be played over two weeks. In the past two years, the NCHSAA has held them in one week in Winston-Salem.
“Hickory is in play. We’ve had some discussions with them and we’re looking forward to again being able to announce Hickory,” said Tucker, who will be holding regional meetings in Asheville, Wilkesboro, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Greenville, Kenansville and Apex from Tuesday to Sept. 25.
“Because we’re looking to play 16 games over a number of days, we would probably look to just playing at Lenoir-Rhyne and start on a Monday or Tuesday,” Tucker said. “When we go East next week, we’ll be talking to East Carolina University about basketball regionals there.”
The Hickory-area has previously hosted regional titles from 1981 to 2003 and against in 2019 and 2020.
Other sports title venues are: Wrestling (Greensboro Coliseum complex), softball (Duke and UNC-Greensboro), and baseball (Burlington, Holly Springs and possibly Five County Stadium in Zebulon).
“So we’ve got a lot of possibilities and it’s just a matter of trying to nail them all down,” Tucker said.
Venues that could be included in future rotations are Charlotte’s Memorial Stadium for football and soccer, the Matthews SportsPlex for soccer and the Cabarrus County Events Center for basketball. The SportsPlex has hosted soccer in the past.
“Because of the timing of everything, we’re finding that some places were already booked up,” Tucker said. “We talked to the Cabarrus Events Center about hosting Western Regional basketball but they were unavailable.
“That doesn’t mean that they won’t be involved down the road. As we move forward, we hope Memorial Stadium will be in play and we hope Bank of America and Matthews will stay in play. Matthews has been great to work with.”
Matthews has recently hosted state championship soccer matches.
NCHSAA ejections a concern
As for the 2025-26 school year, Tucker told the approximately 200 gathered athletic directors and school administrators that she is concerned after the number of ejections numbers rose to 222 for the current school year following last weekend’s athletic events.
She said the majority of ejections were for profanity/racial slurs, fighting and flagrant contact.
“We have to do better,” Tucker said. “We’re in a world where everybody just seems to be angry. I just encourage you to help us with this.”
New sports coming soon
The newest potential sports for the NCHSAA? Girls’ flag football and boys’ volleyball.
Tucker said a committee had been formed to look closer at flag football and a survey would be sent out to the NCHSAA membership to gauge interest.
— N.C. Coaches Association executive director Joe Franks announced that Crest’s Brad LeVine and Mallard Creek’s Kennedy Tinsley are the District 6 members of the Board of Directors.
— Three members were present from the Charlotte-Meckleburg School’ Student Advisory Council: Mallard Creek’s Dania White, Mountain Island Charter’s Rylan Breath and Providence’s Austin Roberts.
— The meeting concluded with Region 6 award-winners.
Six schools were honored for being ejection-free in the 2024-25 school year: Central Academy, Corvian Community, J.M. Robinson, Porter Ridge, Sugar Creek Charter and Math & Science Academy of Charlotte.
— Schools were presented Wells Fargo all-sports trophies for the 2024-25 school years: South Point (Big South 3A), Hickory Ridge (Greater Metro 4A), Queen’s Grant (Metro 8 1A), Hough (Queen City 3A/4A), Piedmont (Rocky River 2A/3A), Myers Park (South Meck 4A), Marvin Ridge (Southern Carolina 4A), Highland Tech (Southern Piedmont 1A/2A), Catholic (Southwestern 4A) and Union Academy (Yadkin Valley 1A/2A).
— Longtime coach and referee Julie Rowland of Hunter Huss was given the Special Person Award.
— Baseball coach Bryan Tyson (who won 315 games) of Central Cabarrus and Mount Pleasant High School was given the Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Award.