We’re still two months away from the 2016 national championship game in the desert, but, at least for a few minutes, our attention turns to the locations of future title games.
Wednesday afternoon, the College Football Playoff announced the locales for three future championship games. The 2018 game (following the 2017 season) will be played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta (Jan. 8), followed by Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Cali. (Jan. 7), in 2019 and, finally, New Orleans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (Jan. 13) in 2020.
The biggest loser in this latest reveal is the Midwest, which will now be shut out of hosting the title game for the first six years of the playoffs, and will likely continue to be shut out until Indianapolis becomes involved. The first title game was played in Arlington, Tex., this past January, while the next two will be played in Glendale, Ariz., and Tampa, Fla., in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
“It is an exciting day for the College Football Playoff,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP, in a statement. “This was an extremely competitive process among the nine wonderful communities. We were pleased and honored by the time and energy that the people in all of the cities put into their bids. Atlanta, the Bay Area and New Orleans have much to offer and will welcome the participating teams and fans with warm support and exceptional facilities. We look forward to bringing college football’s showcase event to these three communities.”
A total of nine different communities bid on the right to host the three games that were announced. Below are the cities/areas that were involved in the process during this round of bidding.
2018
Atlanta
Bay Area (Santa Clara)
Houston
South Florida
2019
Bay Area (Santa Clara)
Charlotte
Detroit
Houston
New Orleans
San Antonio
2020
Bay Area (Santa Clara)
Charlotte
Houston
Minnesota
New Orleans
San Antonio