It will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons’ $1.4 billion retractable-roof palace that will open in 2017.
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College football playoff brass didn’t want to be third in Minneapolis’ line.
“That means $300 million to our community and based on the game earlier this year in Dallas, over 33 million people tuning in to the ESPN broadcast”, Corso said. For now, it’s a day to rejoice in Atlanta, the Bay Area, and in New Orleans.
The playoff management committee, comprised of the FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, also considered bids from South Florida (Sun Life Stadium), Houston (NRG Stadium), Minneapolis (U.S. Bank Stadium), Detroit (Ford Field), Charlotte (Bank of American Stadium) and San Antonio (Alamodome).
Two years ago, New Orleans lost out on bids for the 2016 and 2017 title games when Glendale, Arizona, and Tampa were chosen to host this season and next year. Last season, the Allstate Sugar Bowl hosted one of the inaugural semifinal contests in which Ohio State beat Alabama on their way to winning the national championship.
Organizers said the city will continue to make bids for other high-profile sporting events, which include Wrestlemania in 2018 and the Super Bowl in 2019 or 2020.
Atlanta, San Francisco Bay Area and New Orleans won the right to host the three games. Now, college football is getting in the mix.
Northern California has never hosted a college football championship game. “There’s a buzz and an energy that’s generated in the city that hosts”. “Super Bowl 50 helped pave the way”, Guido said.
“It’s great to have a big worldwide event to really help us kick off the new stadium”, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau President William Pate said.
“Given this climate and given the other cities, we didn’t feel like we needed to go back-to-back-to-back”, Hancock said. “Now that we’ve got the college football title game in ’18 and the Final Four in ’20, we’ve just got to double down on getting the Super Bowl”.
Atlanta also hosts the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, which is part of the six-bowl semifinal rotation for the CFP. Then maybe college football’s biggest games will visit this bowl-neglected area of the country.
The announcement was made, in Rosemont, Illinois, by Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff. He said cold weather is not an eliminating factor and encouraged more bids from northern cities.
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Update: New Orleans was awarded the 2020 game.
