UIL football title games set for AT&T Stadium in 2016 and 2017

All UIL football state championship games will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the next two years, the Austin-based organization announced Thursday.

The 11-man and six-man football championship games will be played at AT&T Stadium, with a new schedule placing all 12 games in a four-day span. The 2016 championship games will take place Dec. 14-17 (Wednesday-Saturday).

“For us, it was easier to enter in a two-year agreement. When you change venues, year to year, it’s tough, especially when you have something this size and you’re going to have 1A through 6A here,” UIL athletic director Susan Elza said.

“We have a lot of setup and coordination, and it just makes sense. I think it’s great and we’re excited about it, and the Jones family and the city of Arlington have been awesome, and we’re glad to be here and excited to host these games for 2016 [and 2017].”

The UIL has determined the site of the large-school state title games since 2006, and all conferences have played at predetermined locations since 2010. AT&T Stadium hosted all 11-man championship games from 2011-2014. Houston’s NRG Stadium hosted the 11-man games in 2015.

“The UIL Football State Championships will be bigger and better than ever this year at AT&T Stadium, with all 12 games in the same week in one location,” UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt said in a statement. “The UIL is excited to showcase the best high school football in Texas at AT&T Stadium during the football finals for an outstanding championship experience.”

“For more than four decades the Dallas Cowboys have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the UIL and high school football teams all over the state of Texas,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said in a statement. “We are proud to have the games coming back to the city of Arlington and AT&T Stadium where many more memories will be made.”

Class A (six-man) Division I and II championship games were played at Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium last December. For the first time all title games are at one site.

“Even being my first year on the job and running the six-man championships in Abilene, the coaches had asked if there was any way in the future where they could become a part of 2A through 6A and be a part of those games,” Elza said. “You also have to make sure with the venue, and again that’s where AT&T Stadium and the Jones family stepped up to accommodate us.”

Last season’s games in Houston created concern because of the lower attendance numbers. During the three-day event, attendance at NRG Stadium was 156,143, compared with 250,652 at AT&T Stadium in 2014.

For the 2014 Class 6A Division I game between Allen and Houston Cypress Ranch, attendance was 52,308. In the 2013 Division I game for 5A (now 6A) between Allen and Pearland, attendance was 54,437, which broke a 36-year-old attendance record for Texas high school football.

AT&T Stadium “is a popular place, and not to take anything away from NRG, but people seem to be excited to come here, and the teams that have played here in the past have given it great recommendations to come back here,” Elza said.

“We’re just excited to be back. It’s going to be great. I think it’s going to be the coolest thing that has been done in football, because we will truly and legitimately have them all in one span, one time here together at one site.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 12:12 PM with the headline "UIL football title games set for AT&T Stadium in 2016 and 2017."