Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
SoFla awarded 2021 football championship
Stadium’s renovations important to getting playoff’s title game
For the first time, the College Football Playoff National Championship game will be played in South Florida. The game will be played Jan. 11, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium, said playoff officials. They said they were impressed with the stadium’s recent renovations.
MIAMI GARDENS — With Maimi Dolphins owner Steve Ross willing to open his checkbook to improve his team’s stadium, it was an easy decision for the College Football Playoff National Championship committee.
On Wednesday, Hard Rock Stadium was announced as the site of the national title game in 2021. The game will take place Jan. 11.
“As far as I’m concerned, the renovations had everything to do with it,” Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez said. “If Stephen Ross hadn’t spent $500 million to renovate the stadium, no matter how good our bid was, it was going to be very, very difficult for us to land this game, the same as the Super Bowl and the other great events that are coming.”
The three-year renovation project began in 2015. Among the upgrades already completed include replacing all lower bowl seats, the addition of giant video boards, the remodeling of the club level and 147 suites and redesign of the parking lot and exterior landscape.
After the Dolphins conclude this season, the project continues with the construction of two pedestrian bridges and tunnels that will allow fans to bypass vehicular traffic outside the stadium.
“We are excited that Hard Rock Stadium will play host to the biggest game in college
football,” Dolphins president and CEO Tom Garfinkel, president and CEO said. “Stephen Ross committed more than $500 million to make this a global entertainment destination and we are thrilled about the opportunity to showcase our venue on this stage.”
The announcement ended years of failing to attract a major college football event. The stadium lost bids to host the 2017 and 2019 national championship games, with the committee choosing Atlanta and Tampa because of their state-of-the-art facilities. The game will be held in Santa Clara, Calif., and New Orleans before returning to South Florida.
Hard Rock Stadium was unable to bid in 2019 because it will host one of the semifinal games that year. It previously hosted an national semifinal in 2015. There was little interest in bidding for the following year’s game because Hard Rock Stadium is already the site of the Super Bowl that year.
“This region is second to none as a venue for major sporting events and this announcement is a culmina- tion of the efforts of many parties and the vast experience of all involved,” said Michael Chavies, chairman of the 2021 College Football Playoff Bid Committee. “We are thankful that the College Football Playoff valued everything that the area has to offer and awarded us this prestigious event.”
This marks the sixth time South Florida has hosted a college football game that the winner was crowned the national champion, with the last being Alabama’s victory against Notre Dame in 2013. There were 15 other games held here that had championship implications. This will be first under the current playoff format and is expected to lead to hosting other major national events.
Last June, the stadium was the site of El Clasico, a soccer match that attracted more than 66,000 fans from across the world.
“We thank you, Steve Ross for your vision, for your commitment to the community to bring these kind of events here to our county and our region,” Gimenez said. “It is no coincidence that we were awarded the 2020 Super Bowl.”