The Stagg Bowl made a successful return to Salem in 2023, and will be returning to two previous venues for the games in January 2027 and January 2028. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

The Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, Division III football's championship game, will be returning to its longtime home, Salem Stadium. After a stretch of six years in which the game will be held in five different stadiums, the national championship will return to Salem, Virginia, for the championship of the 2026 season. The championship of the 2027 season will be in Canton, Ohio, the third Stagg Bowl to be held there in the 2020s.

Division III championship sites are currently being awarded on a two-year basis, instead of the previous four years.

Salem Stadium hosted the championship game last season, in December 2023, as part of a celebration of the 50th year of Division III, as the football committee honored its longtime partners in Salem with the hosting of Stagg Bowl L. Once the current four-year cycle is complete, with games in Houston, Texas, and Canton, Ohio, it will return to Salem for Stagg Bowl LIII and to Canton for Stagg Bowl LIV.

Carey Harveycutter, director of tourism for the City of Salem and the tournament host for each of the more than 100 NCAA championship events to take place in the city, was pleased at the decision.

"I think we proved the commitment of the city and the ODAC when we hosted this past December," Harveycutter said. "We heard wonderful comments from both coaches at the postgame about their hopes of the game returning to Salem. We're excited that it is returning and pledge our support for Division III football, as we have all of those previous years. The game's return just caps off a tremendous relationship with NCAA Division III athletics."

The Stagg Bowl was played in Salem from 1993 through 2017, then spent two years in Shenandoah, Texas; one year in Canton, Ohio; one year in Annapolis, Maryland and last year in Salem. This season's game is in January in Houston, at Shell Energy Stadium, while next season's game will return to Canton, as compensation for losing the 2020 game which was canceled due to COVID. 

By the time the game gets to Salem, there will be a new video scoreboard and potential other upgrades in Salem before January 2027. In the interim, Salem Stadium will serve as the home for Roanoke College football, which will return to Division III varsity status in the fall of 2025.

With the expansion of the Division III playoffs to 40 teams and a sixth round, the championship game is now scheduled for January, although the specific dates may vary depending on the Division III calendar. Since Thanksgiving 2024 is on Nov. 28, the last possible date in the calendar, the season runs later than most years. The Saturday two weekends after the semifinals would be Jan. 2, 2027, for the 2026 season, and Jan. 1, 2028, for the 2027 season, so the Stagg Bowl might be played that weekend, the following weekend, or even midweek.

This season's Stagg Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, with the specifics still being ironed out because of television coverage.