Why Atlanta Is a Natural Fit for the 2018 College Football Playoff Championship

DESTIN, Fla. — The College Football Playoff was recently named the 2015 "Sports Event of the Year" by the Sports Business Journal, and now we now what the future of the event holds.

Executive director Bill Hancock announced the communities that have submitted bids for the 2018-2020 College Football Playoff National Championship games on Wednesday:

Consider Atlanta a shoo-in to win the bid in January 2018.

First, let's just use some common sense.

It's the only year the city bid on hosting the title game, while two of its four competitors in 2018—Santa Clara, California, and Houston—also submitted bids for the 2019 and 2020 games. That creates a sense of urgency with the committee picking Atlanta.

So let's eliminate Santa Clara and Houston from the mix for 2018.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

What about South Florida?

After all, the Orange Bowl has been a mainstay as part of the BCS rotation since its inception following the 1998 season. Atlanta can boast many of the same features that also makes the Orange Bowl—which joined the "Group of Six" playoff rotation following the 2014 season—attractive.

"Air service, hotels and the ability of the city to put on a big event," Hancock said at SEC spring meetings on Wednesday. That's where having big events like a BCS or a CFP game could come into play. But in our minds, nobody has any advantage in this race. They're all starting from a clean sheet of paper."

Air service? All Atlanta boasts is Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which was the world's busiest airport in 2014, according to CNN.com. Getting sponsors into town from around the country and around the world would not be an issue.

Hotels? South Florida has the edge in that department for sure, but most of those hotels are located in downtown Miami and South Beach—which is 18 miles and a few major traffic jams away from Sun Life Stadium.

The new Atlanta stadium, which is scheduled to be complete in the summer of 2017, will be located in the heart of downtown, adjacent to numerous hotels and an entertainment district that includes, among various other attractions, the new College Football Hall of Fame.

Hello.

Plus, the CFP has made it a point to spread this event around the entire country. 

"We'd like to move it around," Hancock said. "We'd like to bring the top level of college football to as many parts of the country as we can."

Will it really want to host the 2018 event in South Florida, one year after the title game in Tampa?

Nope, especially knowing that other cold weather and west coast bidders remain in the mix in 2019 and 2020.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

What about the new, 75,000-seat retractable roof stadium that's being built just south of the Georgia Dome? Could that be the deal-breaker?

It couldn't hurt.

"When the stadium was constructed is not a factor," Hancock said. "What the stadium offers is a factor. The number of seats—the minimum is 65,000—fan amenities, backstage space. These events, our event, the Final Four and others require a tremendous amount of backstage space, for media primarily, but also for entertainment. That's the biggest change in newer stadiums is the amount of backstage space."

Sun Life Stadium, even though it is undergoing a $350 million renovation of its own, simply won't have that.

Is Atlanta winning its 2018 bid to host the College Football Playoff National Championship a mere formality?

That may be a stretch. After all, upsets happen.

But it's playing the role of the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Atlanta Hawks in the 2015 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. 

Unless something crazy happens between now and early November—when the announcement of the three winners is scheduled to take place, don't expect an upset.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.