College Football Playoff sets title game sites for 2018-20

The College Football Playoff championship game will be held in Atlanta in 2018, Santa Clara in 2019 and New Orleans in 2020, Playoff executive director Bill Hancock Wednesday.

Only four bids were submitted for the 2018 game, led by Atlanta, which is opening a new stadium, and South Florida. Both sites already host games in the College Football Playoff semifinal rotation with the Peach Bowl and the Orange Bowl, respectively.

Hancock said in the spring that no preference would be given to sites that already host College Football Playoff games.
Houston and the San Francisco 49ers' new stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., submitted bids for all three years. The other contenders for 2019 and 2020 were Charlotte, Detroit (2019 only), New Orleans and San Antonio and Minneapolis (2020 only).

This season's championship game will be in Glendale, Ariz., with Tampa to host in 2017.

Hancock said those cities — along with Arlington, Texas, which hosted the inaugural game last season — indicated they could be candidates for the next cycle in 2021-24.