The Masters CrossFit Games Are Coming to Birmingham in 2027 — What’s Confirmed, What’s Not, and How to Qualify

The Masters CrossFit Games have a new home: Birmingham, Alabama, run by Magic City Games. That part is real. Almost everything else you have read about it — including some of the dates attached to it — needs a second look. I know, because I sat down with the man running it.

I have won the Masters CrossFit Games seven times. I also live in Helena, about 25 minutes from Birmingham. When CrossFit announced the 2027 season, I interviewed Magic City Games director Micah Shoemaker on Masters in Motion the same day. Here is what is actually confirmed, what is not, and how to put yourself on that floor.

What's confirmed

• The operator: The 2027 Masters CrossFit Games will be run by Magic City Games, directed by Micah Shoemaker. CrossFit has handed the age-group championships to dedicated operators — Magic City Games for Masters, Pit Prodigies for the Teenage Games, WheelWOD for Adaptive.
• It is a standalone championship now, separate from the individual and team CrossFit Games — whose 2027 location has not been announced either.
• The home: Birmingham, Alabama. Micah has said so publicly, including on my podcast. This is his backyard and mine.
• The focus: Individual masters athletes, ages 35 to 70+. No masters teams — the focus is individual.

Micah's three priorities for the event, in his words: the experience, the communication, and the test — including more tests on the floor than recent years.

What's NOT confirmed — read this before you book anything

The official dates and venue for the Masters Games have not been announced. CrossFit's season materials say dates, location details, and the number of qualifying athletes will be announced later.

So where did “September 18–19 at Bill Harris Arena” come from? Those are real dates — for a different event. September 18–19, 2027 at Bill Harris Arena is the Magic City Games championship — Micah's own community competition, with its own qualifier on January 15 and 22, 2027. It is a big event in its own right, but it is not the Masters CrossFit Games, and at least one news write-up has already blurred the two together.

Micah has talked about an August timeframe for the Masters Games in conversations. Treat that as the expectation, not an announcement. When CrossFit and Magic City Games publish the official dates and venue, I will update this page the same day.

How you qualify

The 2027 season path for masters athletes is set, even if the final weekend is not:

• The Open — February 17 to March 8, 2027 (registration opens January 7). Workouts release on Wednesdays this year, scores due Monday.
• Quarterfinals — March 15–22, 2027.
• Semifinals — two routes: in-person Semifinals at partner events from April through June, or the Age-Group Online Semifinals, June 24–29. The fields are deep: 400 athletes per division advance in the 35–39 through 50–54 divisions, 300 per division from 55–59 up.
• The Games — Birmingham, 2027. Dates and field size to be announced.

However the final details land, the shape of the season is clear: perform in the Open, survive Quarterfinals, and be ready to peak once in the spring or early summer to earn the spot — then peak again for the championship.

How I'd train for a championship with no date yet

An unannounced date is not an excuse to wait. It is a planning problem, and it is solvable.

Build the engine now.

The winter is for capacity — the unglamorous, repeatable work that decides who can still produce on the last test of the weekend. Whatever weekend they pick, fitness transfers. Peaking is a 6-to-10-week decision; building is a 10-month one. You are in the building window.

Keep the peak movable.

Plan your year around a late-summer championship window, with your Semifinal peak (April–June) as the first target. Athletes who periodize properly can hold a wide peak window. Athletes who guess a date and peak for it get one shot at being right.

Train for repeatability.

Recent Masters Games have been multi-day, multi-test championships, and Micah has said he wants more tests, not fewer. Can you produce again tomorrow? That is the quality podiums are made of after 40.

Mind the Alabama summer.

If the Games land in Birmingham in late summer, heat and humidity are part of the test whether the workouts are indoors or out. That is a limiter you can prepare for — and for once, I get to prepare for it by walking out my front door.

A 45-year-old chasing a Games spot does not need a 25-year-old's program turned down. They need recovery, repeatability, and a plan that peaks on the right weekend — whenever CrossFit tells us it is.

My plan is to be on that floor in the 50–54 division, in front of a hometown crowd. I'd be lying if I said that doesn't add a little fuel to the winter.

Frequently asked questions

When is the 2027 Masters CrossFit Games?

The dates have not been officially announced. The operator has discussed a late-summer (August) timeframe; CrossFit will publish official dates later. The September 18–19, 2027 dates circulating online are for the separate Magic City Games community championship.

Where will it be held?

Birmingham, Alabama, per Magic City Games — the venue has not been officially announced for the Masters Games. Bill Harris Arena hosts the Magic City Games championship in September; whether the Masters Games use the same building is unconfirmed.

Who runs the Masters Games now?

Magic City Games, directed by Micah Shoemaker.

How do I qualify?

The Open (Feb 17–Mar 8, 2027), Quarterfinals (Mar 15–22), then Semifinals — in-person events April–June or the Age-Group Online Semifinals June 24–29.

What age divisions compete?

Individual masters divisions from 35–39 through 70+.

See you in Birmingham. Some of us just get to drive there.