NRG to host title game in 2024
Stadium, big-event experience show Houston has ‘everything’ in place
Houston has landed the College Football Playoff title game for the 2023 season.
The game will be played at NRG Stadium Jan. 8, 2024.
“Houston has so many venues available to someone like us,” said Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff. “Obviously a great, modern, terrific stadium for the game, but also the multiple convention center and arenas and the downtown park that will make a terrific setting for our festival.”
Houston and NRG hosted the Super Bowl last February and had the basketball Final Four in April 2016. It was the second of each event for the facility.
“Obviously, the community has demonstrated its love and support for college sports by hosting those two outstanding Final Fours and Super Bowl,” Hancock said. “Houston has everything we need.” Upcoming venues
Previous championship sites under the playoff model included AT&T Stadium in Arlington (2015), Glendale, Ariz. (2016) and Tampa Bay (2017). Atlanta will host the game in 2018, followed by Santa Clara, Calif. (2019) and New Orleans (2020).
Three other cities were also selected to get the title game in coming years: Miami-South Florida in 2021, Indianapolis in 2022 and Los Angeles in 2023. The Los Angeles game will be played in the new $2.6 billion stadium that Rams owner Stan Kroenke is building.
Hancock said the College Football Playoff was aiming to have 10 different cities host in the first 10 years.
“Once we decided 10 in 10, we identified these four cities as the cities where we thought we would be served to go,” he said.
“It was a thoughtful and deliberate and unanimous decision” for the four cities, Hancock said.
The CFP considered eight to 10 cities but did not have a traditional bidding process.
“We are very sensitive to the time and expense involved in bidding,” he said. “It just didn’t make sense to subject cities to the cost of another bid.
“We’re not foreclosing any opportunity for the city but, once we realized where we wanted to go, it would have been inappropriate and probably unethical for us to conduct a traditional bid process.” Uniquely prepared
NRG already hosts two national college games each season: The AdvoCare Texas Kickoff on opening weekend — featuring Texas Tech and Ole Miss in 2018 — and the Texas Bowl, which features teams in the Big 12 and SEC.
“It is a very exciting day for everyone in our community,” said Janis Burke, chief executive officer for the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.
Said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett: “Having hosted a Super Bowl and a World Series this year alone, and NCAA basketball playoffs and championships in recent years, Houston and Harris County are now uniquely prepared to play host to one of the nation’s most exciting and closely watched sports events.”
It’s probably a bit early to start guessing which teams will be here six seasons from now.
Who knows how intense Alabama coach Nick Saban will be at a little over 72 years old by then.
As for players, those who would be seniors in the 2023-24 season are sophomores in high school this year. And then there’s eighth grader Jaheim Oatis, a 6-4, 286-pound prospect who already has scholarship offers from Alabama and others.
But, whomever is on top in 2023, they will be coming to NRG.