Daytona Beach & FHSAA can’t come to agreement for hosting Drive to December

GAINESVILLE – If you were getting ready to have your bags packed for the football state championships to be hosted in Daytona Beach, you might want to unpack them.

The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) announced in a release this morning that the 30-day window for negotiating a contract with the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County to host the next three years of state championships games in football ended with no contract being agreed upon.

First reported back in early April by the Daytona Beach News-Journal that the city had won the bid to host the state championships, recently renamed “Drive To December” through a fan voting contest, it would have put the state championships back in the city at Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium for the first time in nearly two decades.

The FHSAA stated that the failure to reach a deal “was the result of both sides not agreeing to the legal wording in portions of the contract, as well as unforeseen overhead expenses realized by the host once the negotiation process began.”

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It was also noted that both the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County “carried out their responsibilities in an exemplary fashion.” The FHSAA hopes that they can bring another FHSAA championship even to Volusia County in the near future.

Now, the Central Florida Sports Commission will get its chance to keep the state championships under its wing in Orlando at Camping World Stadium, formerly known as the Orlando Citrus Bowl. The Central Florida Sports Commission was the only other group to place a bid for the state championships.

However, the Orlando Sentinel reported that dates would be unworkable in 2018, the final year of the three-year agreement, which would force the FHSAA to shift the entire calendar around. It is unknown if this will still be an issue when the FHSAA begins the negotiating process with the Central Florida Sports Commission.

The FHSAA and the Central Florida Sports Commission will have a 30-day window coming up very soon to negotiate a contract for the state championships, which if that is done, will be officially announced to the public after that.