When one thinks of the Southeastern Conference’s premier media event for its most popular sport, Hoover, Alabama is not exactly the first place that springs to mind. Or the tenth. Or even the one-hundredth.
But here we are in these strange times that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, and for the 2021 SEC Football Media Days, the events will not be held in Nashville, Tennessee, but instead at the Wynfrey Hotel in the aforementioned city of Hoover. To be fair, Hoover is a suburb of the largest city in the southern state, so it is not exactly a po-dunk region, but name recognition is certainly lacking.
The announcement was made both on Twitter and via a press release published on the conference’s official site.
The 2021 edition of @SEC Football Media Days is now scheduled to be held at the longtime home of the event, The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, AL, an adjustment from the originally scheduled site in Nashville. The Nashville event has been rescheduled to 2023.
The 2021 edition of @SEC Football Media Days is now scheduled to be held at the longtime home of the event, The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, AL, an adjustment from the originally scheduled site in Nashville. The Nashville event has been rescheduled to 2023.
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) January 26, 2021
Here is the full media release below.
The Southeastern Conference announced Tuesday it is adjusting the site of its annual SEC Football Media Days in 2021 from Nashville to Hoover, Alabama, and will reschedule the Nashville event to the summer of 2023.
SEC Football Media Days, which was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is now scheduled to be held at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham – The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, July 19-22. The Wynfrey Hotel has been the site of the signature event 18 times in the last 19 occurrences.
“Nashville’s success with the NFL Draft in 2019 was a point of attraction when we originally selected it as site for SEC Football Media Days, but the current environment related to the virus will not allow us to explore some of the unique fan experiences we had hoped to pursue in Nashville for this event,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “With two years to prepare, we look forward to making SEC Media Days an even bigger event in Nashville in 2023.”
The SEC will announce the site of the 2022 SEC Football Media Days in the near future.
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