College Football Playoff officials are in Atlanta today, scouting the city as a possible site for the national championship game in January 2018.
Atlanta, Miami, Houston and Santa Clara, Calif, submitted bids last month to host the game, and playoff officials plan to choose the site by the first week of November.
If Atlanta’s bid prevails, the game would cap the first football season in the new $1.4 billion Falcons stadium, which is under construction downtown.
Visits to each bid city are “an important part of the process,” said College Football Playoff chief operating officer Michael Kelly, one of four playoff officials who arrived in Atlanta on Monday.
“It’s basically a chance for the community to show us if they were hosting the event how they would run it and make their bid vision come to life for us,” Kelly said.
Playoff officials use site visits to learn about the stadium where the game would be played, the facilities where the participating teams would practice, the venues where ancillary events would be staged, and the hotels where teams, media and others would stay.
On Monday, the playoff reps saw Georgia Tech’s practice facility, the College Football Hall of Fame and a number of hotels. On Tuesday, they plan to visit the Georgia World Congress Center, the construction site of the new downtown stadium and the Falcons’ stadium preview center on Northside Parkway.
Atlanta is competing with three other NFL stadiums to host the game – the Dolphins’ Sun Life Stadium, the Texans’ NRG Stadium and the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium. Playoff officials visited Houston last week and also have trips planned to Miami and Santa Clara.
Atlanta’s bid committee consists of representatives of the Atlanta Sports Council, the Falcons, the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and Georgia Tech.
“We … are thrilled to have the opportunity to show the (playoff) group all that Atlanta has to offer for their event,” Sports Council executive director Dan Corso said. “With a new stadium in Atlanta’s compact, walkable downtown district, visiting fans will be provided with a great overall experience.”
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