Why College Football Needs to Keep Its Title Games in College Stadiums

When it comes to the Super Bowl, the adage "If you build it, they will come" applies. In college football, it's a similar story. 

It doesn't have to be, though.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the San Francisco 49ers are planning to bid to host the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at their new palace, Levi's Stadium: 

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A person with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the team will seek to host either the 2018, '19 or '20 title game when they come up for bid later this year. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no announcement about the plans.

Cities interested in hosting one of those three title games have until May to bid. A decision on the winners is expected in the fall.

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The bid, whether it succeeds or not, checks off the important boxes: a new and fancy stadium, solid location (Santa Clara, California, just south of San Francisco) and decent January weather. 

Here's something to consider: Why doesn't college football take back its own title game? Put the national championship on campus. You want tradition? You got it. And, yes, tradition is an important part of the postseason. 

When the idea of the College Football Playoff was in its infancy, a chief concern among college admins was how the bowl system would play into it. Question the business model of bowl games all you want—Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports successfully did in 2010 with his book Death to the BCS—but the long-standing relationships between bowls and conferences was too deep to cast aside. 

Tom Pennington/Associated Press

College power brokers made sure the bowls remained a part of the sport's postseason by incorporating the six biggest ones—the Cotton, Fiesta, Peach, Fiesta, Rose and Sugar, now called the New Year's Six—into the semifinal games. Only the national championship game is up for bid to a neutral-site location. 

Basically, the playoff became an altered version of bowl season with an extra game tacked on the end.

So why does that extra game have to be played at an NFL location? Imagine college football's national championship game being held in Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, or in Death Valley at LSU. There could still be a national championship at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles or other big-market college stadiums.

Have a college football stadium bucket list? This would be a dream come true. 

Why can't host committees, with the approval of the appropriate college football program, bid on that right, just like in the NFL? 

Site	Year	Capacity
AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)	2014-15	80,000 (expandable to 105,000)
University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Ariz.)	2015-16	63,400 (expandable to 72,200)
Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Fla.)	2016-17	65,890

OK, so it wouldn't be just like the NFL. Mike Kaszuba and Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune uncovered the NFL's lengthy list of demands for hosting the 2018 Super Bowl. The College Football Playoff National Championship was big, but it wasn't Super Bowl big. Nothing else in America is. 

Schools already wine and dine bowl reps, so this would just be an extended version of that. A more expensive version, of course, but nothing they wouldn't be willing to do. Maybe it kick-starts that stadium/press box expansion project that's been on the table for a couple of years. 

After all, getting the playoff folks to share that willingness is the challenge. 

The No. 1 excuse by then-BCS executive director Bill Hancock—who now holds the same title with the CFP—was that college football stadiums/towns/etc. logistically couldn't handle a semifinal game, let alone a national championship. 

The program sacrificed to this logic a few years ago was Kansas State when Hancock pondered, via Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated, "Can Manhattan, Kansas, take care of 1,200 media? Where will people stay?" 

However, there's a fallacy in that, as Staples pointed out in 2012:

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Well, Bill, I say this as a media member who routinely stays two hours from a game site because of outrageously priced or unavailable hotel rooms. In your hypothetical, there is this magical place called Kansas City. They have great barbecue there. You should know. You live there.

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Now, would there be an uphill battle to climb for Kansas State to land the hosting rights? Absolutely. The playoff would simply select the most desirable option every year. Guess what, that already happens. 

Besides, with advertising revenue and television rights being what they are, seating/press box capacity should be a few rungs down on the list of priorities (and they are). 

But wait. What if perennial championship contenders like Alabama land the bid and get another home game? That's a possibility, but it also exists in the NFL. 

There are complications in every plan. Budgets have to be made, plans have to be secured years in advance. However, with media rights contracts for Power Five conferences being what they are, and with more money coming in through the playoff, there's a lot of green to be spent. 

Schools would love nothing more than to showcase their facilities and town. It's an economic boost and a recruiting tool. Fans would get to experience a college football trip they might not have otherwise taken. 

So, to college football admins: Let's bring the national championship game on campus and have some fun with it. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand.