Update…

Parents,
After careful consideration, including uncertainty surrounding facility availability due to Covid-19 (Coronavirus) related concerns, we are sorry to announce that the 2020 Youth Armed Forces Bowl & American Freedom Games is being postponed. This whole situation is unchartered waters for not just youth sporting events, but also the entire nation. The amount of planning and resources that goes into hosting an event like this is challenging enough without a global pandemic standing in the way.


Over the past few months, we have pushed forward in hopes that we could be a part of helping bring a sense of normality to each kid registered to be a part of this event. As many of you may know, the Youth Armed Forces Bowl is a part of a larger multi-sport event called the American Freedom Games. With the recent upswing of coronavirus numbers, there are not many facilities that are willing to put their staff at potential risk of being exposed to the virus. We had multiple facilities reserved as a contingency plan to our usual venues of Rice University and Houston Community College. We even considered moving the event to other cities and other states but we realized the logistics would not work. Also, changing locations would not be fair to the families who have already planned and anticipated traveling to Houston.


Potential Dates for the Youth Armed Forces Bowl
Labor Day Weekend – September 5,6, 2020
Thanksgiving Weekend – November 27-29, 2020
Independence Day Weekend – July 1-4, 2021


The three dates above are our potential dates to host the Youth Armed Forces Bowl. A coordinated decision will be made within the next few weeks to allow our parents the optimum amount of time to prepare. Our goal was to choose dates that most families have off, especially dates based on federal holidays.

If September or November is chosen and you cannot make those dates, you will have the option of rolling your child over into the July 2021 Youth Armed Forces Bowl with a secured position or you can choose to have your child’s helmet, uniform, practice gear, bag, and award shipped to you. If your child is already registered, his/her position is secured for any date that is chosen.


Can I Just Get a Refund?
The reason we have a 48 hour refund policy as explained on the website is because of how much is spent on ordering everything for each kid. For an event of this type, items have to be ordered months in advance to ensure the ontime arrival for the event date. We literally purchase more uniforms, gear, and helmets than we need (due to lessons learned in the past) to ensure the proper size for each athlete and to cover athletes who register late.


What About My 8th Grader?
If the game is postponed until July of 2021, we will create a separate 9th grade division to allow the athletes who were registered for 8th grade to still participate in the event.
What Now?


Please be on the lookout for an email in regards to our new date. If you already know you will not be able to make any of the potential dates, we have created a form that you can use to designate that your child’s helmet, uniform, practice gear, bag, and award be shipped.
Shipment Designation Form (click here for form)


What About the Coaches?
All of our coaches who have registered are already locked in for any date that is chosen. Our team/board was actually in the middle of making decisions on all coaching assignments which is something that is usually done the month approaching the event to give us time to receive a majority of interested applicants.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

At the current time, the 2020 Youth Armed Forces Bowl is still scheduled to take place on July 2nd – 5th. With our event date being months out, we are exercising hope in our country’s ability to have the current pandemic under control by this time.


Since the inception of this event, we have exercised a 48 hour refund policy. This policy is set in place for many reasons. There is great cost and many moving pieces associated with putting on an event of this scale such as the advanced purchase of awards, uniforms, helmets, etc. These items have to be purchased months in advance to ensure a timely delivery. Also, when an athlete registers, his/her position is subtracted from the position inventory and removed.


There are absolutely no plans to cancel the 2020 Youth Armed Forces Bowl. In the worst case scenario, we will look at rescheduling the event (we will not cancel). If parents can’t make the rescheduled date they will have two options. (1) They can receive their athletes helmet, uniform, practice gear, team bag, and custom ring by mail. (2) Receive a rain check to attend the 2021 Youth Armed Forces Bowl July 4th weekend. However, at this point we do not anticipate the need to re-schedule.

Certified Sports Network and the Youth All American Armed Forces Bowl are in no way affiliated with ESPN, Inc. or the Armed Forces Bowl owned and operated by ESPN Events.