FCS Kickoff Classic Set to Depart Montgomery's Historic Cramton Bowl

The numbers told the story long before Clay Norrell made it official. At Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula in 2015, a campus-hosted Montana vs. North Dakota State matchup drew 26,472 fans to the FCS Kickoff. The event's best single-game crowd at Cramton Bowl, across eight games in Montgomery, was 13,500.

Salute to Veterans Bowl executive director Norrell confirmed that the FCS Kickoff Classic, a preseason fixture in Montgomery's Capital City since ESPN Events relocated it to the neutral site in 2017, has ended its run. The 2026 game will not be played in Montgomery. ESPN notified participating teams of the change.

"But it has run its course in Montgomery," Norrell said.

The economics behind the departure are as instructive as the attendance gap. When the Red Tails Classic was added in 2021, bowl organizers found themselves pitching sponsorships for two preseason games just one week apart, splitting attention and dollars in a market that could only sustain one premium event.

"It was confusing for us when we went out and tried to sell sponsorships," Norrell said. "Now, for us to focus on the Red Tails Classic and the Salute to Veterans Bowl, we have really two great avenues supporting not just an HBCU but a Division II HBCU with a legacy name and also tying in the veterans with the Tuskegee Airmen and the Salute to Veterans Bowl. That makes things easier for us."

The FCS Kickoff launched in 2014 as ESPN's vehicle to spotlight top-tier FCS football in the week before FBS games kicked off. The first three editions ran at campus sites. Then-bowl executive director Johnny Williams brought the event to Montgomery in 2017 as ESPN Events assumed operational control, Guardian Credit Union signed on as name sponsor, and early crowds held steady near 13,000 per year while Jacksonville State served as the de facto home team in 2017 and 2018.

The games at Cramton Bowl accumulated into a familiar Week Zero routine: Youngstown State over Samford, 45-22, in 2019; Central Arkansas edging Austin Peay, 24-21, in 2020; Jacksonville State rolling Stephen F. Austin, 42-17, in 2022; Mercer using a swarming defense to knock off North Alabama, 17-7, in 2023; Southeast Missouri State winning the 2024 edition; and finally Mercer against UC Davis on August 23, 2025, a matchup of two 2024 FCS quarterfinalists that closed out the Cramton Bowl chapter entirely.

What comes next for the event is uncertain. Norrell indicated Mercer's contract may still require a game to be staged somewhere: "They're still going to play the game because Mercer had a contract, but I don't know where or whether it's going to be under the FCS Kickoff logo."

That uncertainty matters beyond one market. FCS analyst Sam Herder has called for revitalizing the format by returning to home stadiums with stronger matchups, and the 26,472-fan turnout in Missoula a decade ago is the loudest argument in his favor. Neutral-site events work when the neutral site brings something a campus cannot: infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, a centrally located draw. Montgomery offered history and operational competence, but never the volume. Post-realignment FCS scheduling is already under pressure as programs reconfigure conference identities and non-conference slates, and a Week Zero showcase that cannot drive attendance above 14,000 in nine years is a liability for any rights holder trying to sell the format to future markets.

For Montgomery, the pivot is already in place. With the Red Tails Classic anchoring the preseason calendar, Norrell sees the transition as a strategic gain rather than a concession: "Now we have a preseason event that has replaced the FCS Kickoff that matches the market better." The city loses the ESPN-branded spotlight; it keeps the HBCU mission and the veteran tribute that fit the Capital City's identity far more naturally than a rotating cast of FCS programs from Youngstown to Davis ever could.