Pac-12 title game moves to Las Vegas for two seasons
The Pac-12 Conference’s football championship game is getting a new home.
It will be played at the NFL’s new Las Vegas Stadium during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott announced Wednesday at the conference’s media day at the Hollywood and Highland Center.
The stadium, which will host the NFL Raiders upon their relocation from Oakland, reportedly will seat 65,000 fans and cost $1.9 billion, with a projected opening date of August 2020.
“It is truly state of the art in every respect,” Scott said. “It’ll be convenient. It’s right off the Strip, close to the airport and it’s going to be a fantastic destination for football fans to enjoy the best of Pac-12 football in our championship game.”
Scott said the conference would evaluate the possibility of playing games at the Rams’ and Chargers’ new stadium in Inglewood in future seasons. The conference also announced that the Los Angeles Bowl, matching a Pac-12 team against a Mountain West team, will be played in the new stadium beginning in 2020.
Las Vegas had already become something of a hub for the conference in recent seasons by hosting the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
Las Vegas Stadium will also host the 2020 Las Vegas Bowl, which will pit a Pac-12 team against an opponent from the Southeastern or Big Ten Conference as part of a reformatted arrangement.
The Pac-12’s 2019 championship game will be held Dec. 6 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, where it has been staged since 2014.