SEC Moves Site of 2021 Gymnastics Championship

Birmingham, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference announced on Tuesday afternoon that it will be moving the site of the 2021 SEC Gymnastics Tournament from New Orleans to Huntsville, Ala. due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament will now be held in the Von Braun Center in Huntsville on March 20. The event was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic and was last held in New Orleans in 2019.

“We enjoyed an electric environment with an SEC-record crowd in New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center when it hosted this event in 2019 and we look forward to returning there when we can provide our student-athletes a similar experience in the future,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement released by the conference. “A geographically central location is appropriate in the current COVID-19 environment. We appreciate the support from the Huntsville community and the Von Braun Center to provide an excellent venue for this year’s Championship.”

The move to Huntsville will be the first time that the city has hosted the championship tournament. For the first 20 years of the tournament beginning in 1981, the location of the event was always located on an SEC campus until in 2001, when the tournament was moved to a neutral site.

Since 2001, seven different cities have hosted the tournament, with Huntsville now making eight.

“We are honored to step up and host the SEC Gymnastics Championship in Huntsville,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said in a statement. “We promise participants will find a high-caliber venue and a welcoming community, and we look forward to seeing this outstanding competition in the Rocket City.”