Jacksonville thought about it. They were in. Now they’re officially out. The city that once hosted a Super Bowl and contemplated placing a bid for a future College Football Playoff championship game in the 2018-2020 rotation is now backing away from the process. For now, at least.
According to a report from The Times-Union the Jacksonville Sports Council has decided to hold off from placing a bid as the cost of hosting a game continues to rise. The timing is also not ideal for Jacksonville, which is undergoing renovations to the downtown riverfront area over the next few years. It is expected Jacksonville will jump back in the bidding process when the next championship game rotation comes around.
“We want to have a winning bid,” Jacksonville Sports Council president and CEO Rick Catlett told The Times-Union. “We don’t think right now we can put together a winning bid until some of the developments that are happening in Jacksonville get done. We don’t think right now, financially and infrastructure-wise, we would have a winning bid.”
Earlier this morning on CFT we learned Detroit is moving forward with placing a bid and last night we discussed AT&T Stadium in Arlington will not be included in the bidding process. As of this second, there are are eight cities hoping to receive the costly burden honor of hosting a future College Football Playoff national championship game between the 2018 and 2020 seasons in addition to Detroit; Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, San Antonio and Santa Clara.