The College Football Playoff was a wild success — at least financially — in its first year, and there are at least seven cities that are placing bids for the 2018-2020 College Football Playoff Championship games, with another seven considering bids, according to ESPN.
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The seven that have already decided to place bids are Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville (FL), Miami, Minneapolis, San Antonio, and Santa Clara (CA). The seven others that are considering placing a bid by the late May deadline are Arlington (TX), Houston, Indianapolis, New York/New Jersey, New Orleans, Orlando (FL), and Pasadena (CA).
Arlington hosted the inaugural championship game, while Phoenix and Tampa will host the next two title games. Host sites for semifinal games cannot host the title game in the same year (obviously), meaning Pasadena and New Orleans are not options for 2018, Miami and Houston are not options for 2019, and Atlanta and Phoenix would not be options for 2020.
I've advocated from the beginning that the Rose Bowl should host the championship game every year, so I'm hoping that Pasadena does put in a bid to get one of the three games. Of those that are decidedly placing bids, Atlanta, Miami, and Santa Clara — home of Levi's Stadium — figure to be the favorites, while New Orleans, Arlington (AT&T Stadium), Houston, and Pasadena all seem like viable options.
It's interesting to see Minneapolis and New York/New Jersey as two potential bidders, because they are two cold-weather, outdoor stadium sites. It's hard to imagine the College Football Playoff wanting to go to a cold weather site with an outdoor stadium — especially Minneapolis — over the other warm weather options. Indianapolis is the host of the Big Ten Championship game and has a large indoor stadium, so they seem to be a place that would be considered more desirable than the other two cold-weather areas.
