Ashton Brosnaham Park To Host NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship

March 7, 2024

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced that it has selected Escambia County’s Ashton Brosnaham Athletic Park as its new home for the NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship. The initial term of the agreement is two years and will conclude after the 2025 NAIA Women’s Soccer Championship in December and will be hosted by Pensacola Sports.

“We had a difficult choice ahead of us in the bid process, but Pensacola stood out amongst a very strong group of contenders,” said Austin Bennett, NAIA Director of Championships. “Pensacola Sports will do a tremendous job and will give our NAIA student-athletes a special championship experience at a first-rate facility.”

Ashton Brosnaham Athletic Park off 10 Mile Road is the current home to the SEC Women’s Soccer Championships and features a state-of-the-art layout that will be a great experience for teams and fans alike. Just last year, the facility underwent a large-scale upgrade that included a complete re-sod that was designed for high-level college soccer. This improvement, along with the addition of multiple locker rooms and flexible use space has made the facility an ideal location for the NAIA to crown a champion in the years to come.

“We are excited to crown champions in Pensacola and are hopeful for a long-term future there,” remarked Bennett.

“It’s the type of news that you hope comes when you make a commitment to a facility and a commitment to a tournament like we did with SEC women’s soccer that we’ve hosted a couple of times,” Escambia County District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry said Thursday night. “We’ve shown a commitment to the sport in hosting top shelf type tournaments.”

“It’s a great day in Escambia County to win hosting the NAIA Women’s Soccer national championships beginning next year. I want to thank Michael Rhodes, Escambia County Parks and Recreation Director, and Ray Palmer, executive director of Pensacola Sports Association, for their leadership and diligence in securing the partnership with the NAIA. There is a lot of momentum for great things at Ashton Brosanham and I can’t wait to see the next success involving one of our great amenities in District 5,” Barry added.

Pictured: The record-setting SEC Women’s Soccer Tournament at Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in October 2022. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “Ashton Brosnaham Park To Host NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship”

  1. Tim Escambia Co Resident on March 11th, 2024 12:43 pm

    It sure would be nice to have another ice rink in the area other than the Pensacola Bay Center. There is a shortage of ice time for the figure skating club, junior hockey league, and even the Pensacola Ice Flyers pro team. It’s really easy to spot the teams that have privilege of ice time year round vs our teams, pro & junior, that don’t. We invest a ton of money and time to watch our kids enjoy a sport that they only get a very limited amount of time to practice. So, pro team and jr team alike have to travel to train once the ice comes out of the PBC. The county should recognize this need and either create a facility or offer an incentive to a land owner/business to start one up.

  2. Impressed! on March 8th, 2024 12:39 pm

    I don’t know who brought them here, but GREAT JOB! Excellent revenue for local businesses and a great spectator event. It is very cool to hear such nice things about a Pensacola resource. Thanks for the hard work it had to take to get this worked out!

  3. Steve on March 8th, 2024 8:52 am

    While this is great news for the county, it sure would be nice if the brilliant county management and staff could figure out a way to either widen Ten Mile Rd, in this area OR better route the traffic into Brosnaham.
    But hey, who cares about the people paying the property taxes to support this stuff? Hmm.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, TOP sports