Sugar Bowl officers are near finalizing a six-year extension with the College Football Playoff to play a quarterfinal or semifinal CFP recreation yearly in New Orleans by means of 2032, Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley stated Tuesday.
“Of course, nothing’s done until it’s done and the ink’s dry, but we feel really optimistic,” Hundley stated on the Greater New Orlean Quarterback Club on Tuesday. “We’ve been back and forth quite a bit (in negotiations) and are landed in a pretty good spot that will give us, in that six-year term, three (CFP) quarterfinal games and three semifinal games. It’s exciting news for us.”
The Sugar Bowl, together with school soccer’s different “big six” bowls — the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach and Rose — has been an everyday host for the CFP because the event started with a four-team playoff in 2014.
New Orleans will play host to the CFP championship recreation in 2028, officials announced last month. It will mark the second time the town has hosted the occasion since 2018.
“(New Orleans) is always going to be a part of the CFP,” CFP CEO Rich Clark stated on the announcement of the 2028 championship recreation final month. “I see New Orleans being a long-term partner with us.”
The Sugar Bowl hosted the CFP quarterfinal recreation between Georgia and Notre Dame final 12 months. It will play host to a different quarterfinal recreation Jan. 1 this season.
The future format of the CFP stays undecided. The CFP’s administration committee has carried out a number of conferences to debate future plans, which embrace a proposed growth of the playoff to 16 groups, however nothing has been finalized. CFP officers have a contractual obligation to let ESPN know by Dec. 1 whether or not they need to develop the sphere past 12 groups.
If the playoff stays at 12 groups, quarterfinal games could be performed on or round Jan. 1, Hundley stated, with semifinal games to comply with on or round Jan. 10-14.
“We’ve been competing against cities like Las Vegas and Nashville and Orlando and Houston that have deeper pocketbooks than us for our very spot in the playoff,” Hundley stated. “For us, it was essential to remain on the prime and to do no matter it took to ensure that we acquired that job performed.
“We’ve nonetheless acquired work to do, however sufficient to the place we felt good going ahead, making some monetary commitments that wanted to be made.”