The Big Central Conference – the football-only league that kicked off its initial season in 2020 as part of a merger between the GMC and Mid-State Conference – has big things planned for its fourth campaign in 2023.
For the first time ever, the conference will hold a league-wide event: Football Media Days with all 59 teams in the Big Central participating. It’s an opportunity for local and statewide media to meet coaches and their key players from every school.
The Media Days will be held next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 15th and 16th, at Iron Peak Sports & Events in Hillsborough.
“This is a great opportunity for us to showcase our student-athletes of the Big Central Conference,” said league president and co-founder Scott Miller in a press release. “We are excited to have Iron Peak as our host and we look forward to a lasting relationship with Iron Peak for future events to showcase our student-athletes.”
A number of sponsor partners will help make the event possible, including Alliance Orthopedics, The Funding Zone, QwickCut, GoRout, Sideline Design, Stan’s Sports and Huddlbox. Miller thanked them for “their continued support of the Big Central Conference and its mission to help our coaches and student-athletes succeed.”
The event is also a partnership between the BCC with Tom McGuire of Trademark Events and Consulting, which runs and promotes numerous high school sports events like the Rumble on the Raritan, the prominent fall high school football showcase at Rutgers University. This year, it will include five games, including two all-Big Central matchups on Sunday, September 24th – Hillsborough vs. Phillipsburg and North Brunswick vs. Sayreville – which will be broadcast live exclusively by Central Jersey Sports Radio.
The two-day format was created in order to accommodate every single team in the league, and give them their own moment to shine on the stage, not just focus on the schools that might be the biggest, the most highly-ranked, or have the most stars.
In addition to previewing the upcoming season, players and coaches will have an opportunity to test out new, state-of-the-art equipment. There will also be a photo shoot in Iron Peak’s 80,000 square-foot dome, an inflatable structure similar to the Rutgers “bubble.”
The Big Central Kick-Off Event is not the only thing the league has planned that’s new for 2023. Miller also told coaches and athletic directors in an email earlier this summer that, with the help of sponsorships, the league will launch a website, complete with “all social media included.”
Central Jersey Sports Radio will have full coverage of the Kick-Off Event, including photos, a summary, divisional audio previews with coverage of all 59 teams in the league, and one-on-one interviews with key players and coaches.