One of the worst-kept secrets in college football is official and the sites for College Football Playoff have been set. And there were absolutely no surprises.
Following up on reports from ESPN’s Brett McMurphy and the Associated Press from the past day, Cowboys Stadium will host the first College Football Championship Game in 2015. The Arlington site reportedly beat out a strong bid from Tampa for the right to host the first title game in the new postseason format.
Future CFP executive director Bill Hancock made the announcement on Wednesday during this week’s playoff meetings.
Additionally, the Chick-fil-A Bowl -- which will apparently change its name back to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl -- Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl will fill out the remaining three semifinal rotation sites, joining the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl. The rotation for the semifinal sites over the 12-year contract are as follows (teams participating in non-semi bowls will be selected with an emphasis on geography):
- Rose and Sugar bowls: Jan. 1, 2015; Jan. 1, 2018; Jan. 1, 2021; and Jan. 1, 2024.
- Orange and Cotton bowls: Dec. 31, 2015; Dec. 31, 2018; Dec. 31, 2021; and Dec. 31, 2024.
- Fiesta and Chick-fil-A bowls: Dec. 31, 2016; Dec. 31, 2019; Dec. 31, 2022; and Dec. 31, 2025.
The Holiday Bowl in San Diego also bid for a chance to act a semifinal site. The next two championship game sites, which follow the 2015 and ’16 seasons, will be revealed this September.
A few other details from Wednesday’s announcement:
-- As expected, teams occupying the top two seeds in the playoff will not be placed at a homefield disadvantage. For instance, if Oregon is a No. 2 seed, it would not have to travel to the Sugar Bowl over the Rose Bowl, or the Chick-fil-A over Fiesta, etc.
-- Non-semifinal “BCS” games will have a ticket allotment of 12,500 instead of 17,500. Students will also receive tickets for the championship game at a discounted rate.
-- The city hosting the championship game will not receive any direct revenue from the games; all of it will to go to the conferences.
