Atlanta lands 2018 CFP title game

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome will host the 2020 national championship game on January 13, 2020.

Atlanta’s bid for the 2018 national title game was submitted in May, and won over bids from Houston, Miami and Santa Clara.

The announcement was made, in Rosemont, Illinois, by Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff.

Minnesota will continue its bid to nab college football’s national championship game after missing out on the latest awards.

The CFP, in its second year, requires cities or regions to bid for the championship game much like the National Football League does in selecting Super Bowl sites.

The 2016 game will be played in Glendale, Arizona, and the game moves to Tampa, Florida, in 2017. A venue can not host the title game in the same season it stages a semifinal.

The 2019 title game will be played at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s hosting the Super Bowl in 2018 and the Final Four in 2019. Bids for the Superbowl are due this month, with a decision coming in May.

Atlanta, Georgia, will host the championship game in 2018. Competing against Minneapolis for 2020: Charlotte, N.C.; Houston; the Bay Area; New Orleans and San Antonio.

With the winning sites, the national championship will be played in six different states, stretching coast to coast, in its first six years.

Minnesota officials say the committee will pursue games for 2021 and beyond. Going to New Orleans isn’t earth-shattering since the Super Bowl has gone to the Crescent City several times. The first game was at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, January 12, 2015.

Anyway, the semifinal games rotate annually among the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual and Fiesta Bowl. In addition, the Selection Committee places deserving teams in the other four bowls that are part of the format.