| Magnolia Gridiron All-Star Classic (defunct) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stadium | Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium |
| Location | Jackson, Mississippi |
| Operated | 2005–2006 |
The Magnolia Gridiron All-Star Classic was an annual post-season college football all-star game held in December 2005 and 2006. The game was organized by Darry Alton, who previously helped found the Las Vegas All-American Classic, in view of the discontinuation of the Blue–Gray Football Classic and the Gridiron Classic, in order to provide players from lesser-known and lesser-televised schools with a chance to impress NFL scouts.
College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
The Las Vegas All-American Classic was an annual post-season college football all-star game that was played in January from 2002 to 2006. After taking two years off due to lack of sponsorship, there were plans for the game to return in 2009 as the North–South All-American Classic, but it was postponed and has not been played since.
The Blue–Gray Football Classic was an annual American college football all-star game held in Alabama, usually in late December and often on Christmas Day. The brainchild of Alabama college football legend Champ Pickens, the contest began in 1939 and was held annually through 2001, with the exception of 1943 due to World War II.
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The game was held at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi. It matched a team of senior players from Division I-A schools not participating in bowl games, against seniors from Division I-AA, Division II, and Division III schools; both teams also included some NAIA players. [1] In advance of the game, players participated in practice days and a combine, which were open to NFL and CFL scouts. [2] [3]
Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium has been the home stadium of the Jackson State Tigers football team since 1970, and owned and operated by Jackson State University since July 1, 2011. Originally known as War Veterans Memorial Stadium, it was later known as Hinds County War Memorial Stadium. It was redesigned and enlarged in 1960 and Ole Miss vs. Arkansas dedicated Mississippi Memorial Stadium in 1961 before a capacity crowd of 46,000. With political support from Ole Miss and Mississippi State and leadership from Ole Miss Athletics Director Warner Alford, Mississippi Memorial Stadium was enlarged to 62,500 in 1981 and on September 26, 1981 Ole Miss and Arkansas again dedicated the facility before 63,522.
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond, Mississippi. The city of Jackson also includes around 3,000 acres comprising Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport in Rankin County and a small portion of Madison County. The city's population was estimated to be 165,072 in 2017, a decline from 173,514 in 2010. The city sits on the Pearl River and is located in the greater Jackson Prairie region of Mississippi.
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivision had avoided using a playoff tournament to determine an annual national champion, which was instead traditionally determined by a vote of sports writers and other non-players. In place of such a playoff, various cities across the United States developed their own regional festivals featuring post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating teams. Despite attempts to establish a permanent system to determine the FBS national champion on the field, various bowl games continue to be held because of the vested economic interests entrenched in them.
