Rome will be the focus of the NAIA college football stage for at least one more year.

In a press conference Thursday, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced it will extend its contract to play the Russell Athletic-NAIA national football championship game in Rome through 2010.

The city, along with Floyd County and Shorter College – the game’s host institution – was awarded a two-year deal to host the game in January 2008.

This year’s game will be played at Barron Stadium on Dec. 19.

“We will do everything in our power as a community to live up to the NAIA’s expectations,” said Bob Berry, co-chair of Rome’s NAIA Host Committee. “We did it last year. We will do it again this year and we will certainly make it better each and every year it’s here.”

Dennis Green, the manager of championship sports for the NAIA, attended the press conference in the west end zone of Barron Stadium and officially made the announcement.

He recalled the feeling he got when he came to town last December for the first title game that was hosted by Rome.

“Once you got into town, you could really feel that the whole community was behind this event 100 percent,” Green said. “And that’s one of the most important things that we ask of our hosts.”

Berry, who co-chairs the host committee along with Shorter College athletic director Bill Peterson, directly linked the possibility of Rome hosting the game past the 2010 season with installing artificial turf at Barron Stadium.

A $3.36 million package of improvements for the historic stadium is part of the $42.29 million special purpose, local option sales tax on the ballot for voters in Rome and Floyd County on Nov. 3.

“The announcement today … is the NAIA’s tip of the hat to us to not only say ‘Thank you for what you have done,’ but to give us the chance to see what this community can do about bringing improvements and artificial turf to Barron Stadium,” Berry said.

“They want to give us that opportunity.”

Following the heavy rains that created the muddy conditions experienced by the teams in last year’s championship game, many NAIA coaches and presidents of member institutions stated that they would like to see the venue for the event have artificial turf.

“We have made no secret in Rome, Floyd County and at Shorter College that our aim is to do such a good job that the NAIA would want to make this the long-term home of the NAIA national championship football game,” Berry said.

“By this announcement today, they certainly have said to us how much they’ve appreciated our effort.”

Tickets are currently on sale at The Forum for this year’s national championship game, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19, at noon. The 2010 game is set for Saturday, Dec. 18.

For more information, call The Forum at 706-291-5281 or visiting www.forumevents.org.