HOUSTON — Atlanta will be the site of the crowning of college football’s next champion.
The city will be the first to repeat as host of the College Football Playoff national title game Jan. 20, 2025 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta, which previously hosted in January 2018, was put on the clock after Michigan defeated Washington on Monday at Houston’s NRG Stadium. Several officials from Atlanta participated in a “handoff” ceremony Tuesday morning that included videos about the days in Houston and a recap of what happened in 2018.
Not that anyone is counting, but it’s 377 days from Tuesday.
As part of the challenge next season, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host a CFP quarterfinal Jan. 1 because of the expansion of the playoffs from four to 12 teams.
Though a year away, those charged with leading the efforts to host the crowning said the city will draw on its experiences from hosting dozens of major events and its reputation of being communicative and collaborative.
“We all know how to put on big events together, right?” Atlanta Sports Council President Dan Corso said. “And we do it a lot.”
Corso chose a more forward-thinking word than “easier” to describe how lessons learned from 2018 might impact how they choose to host in 2025.
“I think the event continues to grow, as does our footprint,” he said. “More hotels, more attractions, more restaurants coming online, the downtown campus is expanding and getting more efficient. So as their event grows, and they add more elements to the weekend, we’re able to accommodate those. I just think there’s an opportunity for us to kind of reimagine what 2018 was, as we look ahead to 2025, right, as their event grows in our community grows, we try to blend those together.”
Credit: Contributed by Atlanta Sports Council
Credit: Contributed by Atlanta Sports Council
Members of Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, AMB Sports and Entertainment (which operates Mercedes-Benz Stadium), City of Atlanta, State of Georgia and the Convention Center spent time in Houston the past few days gathering information regarding game operations, ancillary events, fanfare, concerts and security and looking for improvements or tweaks to what it has practiced in hosting Super Bowls, Peach Bowls, Celebration Bowls, SEC Championship games, Aflac (formerly Chick-fil-A) Kickoff games, college and pro playoff games, Final Fours, important soccer matches, concerts and other events.
Officials from CFP will begin to visit Atlanta monthly, starting in February, to discuss preparations, wants and needs and monitor progress.
Atlanta was selected as the first repeat host for several reasons. Among them are a walkable footprint around and near Mercedes-Benz Stadium that includes more than 13,000 hotel rooms, MARTA to and from the airport, museums and sites that can host fan events and thousands of restaurants ranging from the inexpensive to Michelin-rated.
Corso said the biggest decision to be made will be working with the College Football Playoff committee on deciding where events will be held. The decisions will go down to the granular level of what clothing to provide the 2,000 volunteers.
The estimated cost to put on the championship will be $13-15 million, according to Corso. That’s approximately the same as it was in 2018.
Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau President William Pate said it is difficult a year away to provide an estimated economic impact of hosting the quarterfinal and the final. He said the impact would be incremental because the events, and the revenues generated, will be happening in days when the city isn’t normally hosting conventions or shows.
“When you think about all the transactions that a traveler makes, what you’re doing here, Ubers, merchandise, restaurants, hotels, all that stuff,” Pate said. “That’s what adds up to the economic impact. And so that number will be significant.”
The impact in 2018 was projected to be $85 million. It was revised to $65 million because the two teams that played, Georgia and Alabama, featured some ticket-buyers who didn’t need hotel rooms and the other ancillary services that generate additional revenues.
Houston officials estimated Tuesday that 100,000 guests came for the game with an estimated economic impact of $200 million.
Other than that the president of the United States likely won’t be attending because the game will be held on Inauguration Day, many things about hosting aren’t expected to change much from 2018. There will be events in addition to the game. Houston held concerts and a 10K race. There were benefits for teachers and a showing off of food around Houston.
City of Atlanta Chief Operating Officer Lisa Benjamin and Corso said that because the 2025 game is scheduled to be played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there will be events planned to honor the civil rights legend.
There will be improvements to the game-day experience, according to AMBSE President Tim Zulawski. The last time Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted the event, it had been open for only a few months. What usually takes two years of planning was done mostly by theory and research.
Since then, technology has advanced to the point of paperless tickets and the ability for stadium operators and organizers to reach out to customers about everything from schedules to traffic around the stadium to parking sites.
The concession prices that are customary for Mercedes-Benz Stadium will remain low for the title game because he said that is what AMBSE owner Arthur Blank believes is crucial to the experience.
“Our goal with 2025 will be how do we know what the consumer wants every day and how do we bring that in so that they can have the best experience and an evolving experience?” he said. “What Houston did for ‘24 was amazing. But that just raises the bar for us for ‘25.”
Corso said the organizing committee doesn’t yet have any worries. Pate guaranteed success.
“I think we we go into every event expecting to execute flawlessly,” he said. “And I think we’ve got a record of doing that.”
Credit: David Goldman
Credit: David Goldman
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