SNI BACKGROUND - Begun in 1972 in Plantation, Florida, a small group of Optimist International members decided to work together to host several Northern youth football teams to play Thanksgiving youth football bowl games in a warm, sunny climate. That initial competitions held in 1972 was played on two dirt baseball diamonds marked out as football fields with four youth football organizations attending from Alabama, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Florida. Named the Little Yankee Bowl, that early four-team football tournament were the beginnings of the National Youth Football Championships.

The Little Yankee Bowl competition hosted 8-12 teams each year as more and more teams continued to spread the word about the fantastic football weekend. The number of fields, officials and hours of set-up needed to host this competition was growing. The growth of the event both honored and humbled our founders. Sports Network International was truly begun around this time to handle the rising costs associated with producing this enormous youth football competition.

With few hotels located in then tiny Plantation, Florida. SNI decided to move the event to Orlando, Florida in 1979 to ensure all of the attendees could easily find a place to stay. Also, the name of the event was changed to be the National Junior Super Bowl. The event grew rapidly to host roughly 20-24 teams.

Around this same time, our teams felt the event had lost something moving to such a large city as Orlando. They did not enjoy their experience as much as they did when the event was held in a smaller, coastal beach city. While the draw of Walt Disney World and the other area attractions was an nice addition for many people who attended both the drill and football competitions, SNI felt certain the future of the event should be built around a smaller beach city where attendees could come and have a wonderful, beach family vacation weekend, then travel to the nearby theme parks if they wished.

THE MODERN ERA BEGINS - In 1982, SNI moved the NYFC to Cocoa Beach, Florida and changed the name of the competition to the now familiar In addition to the National Youth Football Championships. This move was a turning point in the event. The number of teams literally exploded and within one short year, SNI soon found itself without the facilities it needed to expand in Cocoa Beach much as was the case previously. After a great deal of research and offers being considered by several cities in the Southeastern United States, SNI moved its main event venue to Daytona Beach in late 1982, bringing the NYFC football competition to the mid-sized beach front town.

After several more years, the NYFC event had exploded to maintain roughly 100 football teams annually. Both the football and cheer competitions were over-full each year and many quality football teams were being turned away. At the urging of several teams who attended the event from California and other western states, SNI began the National Youth Football Championships - Western Division in 1987. Originally conducted in Sacramento, California for a single year in 1987, the Western Division of the NYFC was moved to its permanent home of Las Vegas, Nevada the following year and has remained there ever since. The event now fills annually with 100+ teams attending from throughout the Western United States and Canada and maintains the same fantastic competition as it's senior brother, the National Youth Football Championships - Eastern Division.

The NYFC continued to gain more notoriety for the excellent organization who attended from around the globe. Teams from Hawaii and Canada began to attend the football competition. A large turning point for the NYFC came in 1985 when the beautiful Ocean Center Arena and Conference Center first opened their doors. This 8,000 seat county-run facility quickly became an outstanding home for the NYFC Eastern Division Registration, Cheer Championships competition and closing night Awards Ceremony.

With such an increase in attendance, SNI made the decision to relocate its headquarters from Cocoa Beach to Daytona Beach as well in late 1987. The beach-type, smaller town atmosphere of Daytona Beach, combined with the number of beach front hotels, along with the ease of attendance by interstate car, air, bus and train travel to Daytona Beach, Florida has been a successful mixture and made Daytona Beach the permanent home of the NYFC.

Sports Network International remains humbled with our success and always remembers how we got here -- hard work, fairness and taking risks. Imitators have tried to copy the success of the NYFC but as any team who has ever attended the NYFC will attest, no other football tournament compares to the NYFC. First class shirts, medallions, patches, color team photos, fields, officials and the most gorgeous team trophies available anywhere are synonymous with the National Youth Football Championships. No other football event in the world maintains the competitive excitement & positive reputation that is the National Youth Football Championships.

The future of the NYFC continues to look bright with new teams from across the North America contacting Sports Network International asking to be included in this invitation youth sports spectacular. Every year, roughly 3,000 youth football teams from throughout North America receive invitations to attend the NYFC. Unfortunately, only about 200 may be accepted into the event.

It remains the hope and goal of Sports Network International to make a positive difference in the lives of the players, cheerleaders, coaches and parents that choose to end their season annually at the most famous and highly respected youth family athletic event held anywhere in the world, the National Youth Football Championships.