College Football Playoff National Championship
The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, which began play in the 2014 college football season. The game serves as the final of the College Football Playoff, a bracket tournament between the top four teams in the country as determined by a selection committee, which was established as a successor to the Bowl Championship Series and its similar BCS National Championship Game.
Unlike the BCS championship, the participating teams in the College Football Playoff National Championship are determined by two semi-final bowls, hosted by two of the consortium's six member bowls yearly, and the top two teams as determined by the selection committee do not automatically advance to the game in lieu of other bowls. This has caused a unique side effect in that no #1 or #3 seed had won the National Championship in its first five years, with LSU becoming the first #1 seed to win the championship in 2019.
The game is played at a neutral site, determined through bids by prospective host cities. When announcing it was soliciting bids for the 2016 and 2017 title games, playoff organizers noted that the bids must propose host stadiums with a capacity of at least 65,000 spectators, and cities cannot host both a semi-final game and the title game in the same year.
The winner of the game is awarded a new championship trophy instead of the "crystal football", which has been given by the American Football Coaches Association since 1986; officials wanted a new trophy that was unconnected with the previous BCS championship system. The inaugural game was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in January 2015, and was won by Ohio State. The awarded trophy, College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy, is sponsored by Dr Pepper.
Venues
The number of cities capable of bidding for the event is restricted by the 65,000-seat stadium minimum. In addition to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which was the other finalist for the 2015 matchup, the stadium restriction would limit the bidding to cities such as New Orleans, Glendale, and Pasadena. Other possible future hosts include Orlando, San Antonio, and almost any city with a National Football League franchise, since all but three of the stadiums in that league meet the capacity requirements and, unlike the Super Bowl, there is no de jure restriction on climate. Officials in New York City said they would like to host the game at Yankee Stadium, which hosts the annual Pinstripe Bowl, but it falls short of the attendance limit as it only holds approximately 54,000 fans in its football configuration.On December 16, 2013, host selections for the 2016 and 2017 title games were announced. Glendale, Arizona was selected to host the 2016 game and Tampa, Florida was selected to host the 2017 game. Four cities had submitted bids for the 2016 game: Glendale, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Tampa. Six metropolitan areas had been vying for the 2017 game: Tampa, the San Francisco Bay Area, Minneapolis, San Antonio, South Florida, and Jacksonville.
The host for the 2020 game was announced on November 4, 2015.
- 2020 – Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
- 2021 – Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
- 2022 – Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
- 2023 – SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
- 2024 – NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Game results
Rankings are from the CFP Poll released prior to matchup.Future games
Season | Date | Site |
2020 | January 11, 2021 | Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL |
2021 | January 10, 2022 | Lucas Oil Stadium • Indianapolis, IN |
2022 | January 9, 2023 | SoFi Stadium • Inglewood, CA |
2023 | January 8, 2024 | NRG Stadium • Houston, TX |
2024 | January 6, 2025 | TBD |
2025 | January 5, 2026 | TBD |
Appearances by team
Appearances | Team | Wins | Losses | Win % | Season won | Season lost |
4 | Clemson Tigers football| | 2 | 2 | 2016, 2018 | 2015, 2019 | |
4 | Alabama Crimson Tide football| | 2 | 2 | 2015, 2017 | 2016, 2018 | |
1 | Ohio State Buckeyes football| | 1 | 0 | 2014 | ||
1 | LSU Tigers football| | 1 | 0 | 2019 | ||
1 | Oregon Ducks football| | 0 | 1 | 2014 | ||
1 | Georgia Bulldogs football| | 0 | 1 | 2017 |