Dallas, Jacksonville not bidding for CFP title game in 2018-20
Dallas and Jacksonville have taken themselves out of the running for the next three available College Football Playoff title games.
Bids for the right to host games in 2018-2020 are due in two weeks. Jacksonville said it was dropping out of the running because it wants to make sure the city is ready for the game and would be in a better position for the bidding of the three games from 2021-2023.
“We want to have a winning bid,” Jacksonville Sports Council CEO Rick Catlett told the Jacksonville 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. We think that part of it is being corrected through what’s going on in our city, specifically, the Khan Shipyards development.”
Dallas hosted the first title game in January. It said it was backing out of the bidding because it felt its chances were better in 2021-2023 as well given a presumably large rotation of cities for the game.
“We came to the conclusion that the game was going to be rotated around the United States and probably wouldn’t return that soon,” Stadium Events Organizing Committee chairman Tommy Bain told the Dallas Morning News. “We felt we were best served with focusing on those and the next bid cycle. When that comes around, we’re very bullish on that part.”
Several cities – Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Charlotte, Santa Clara, Minneapolis, Detroit, San Antonio and Houston – are expected to submit bids for the 2018-2020 rotation. New Orleans is currently publicly undecided about going for the game. The Rose Bowl previously said it wouldn’t bid on the game in 2020.
The title game at the conclusion of the 2015 season is at the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale. The game in January 2017 is in Tampa Bay.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
