What It Means to ‘Host’ a College Football Playoff Game

For the first time, the College Football Playoff will begin with four contests on school campuses across Friday and Saturday.

But does that make them home games? Yes … for the most part.

Host teams—Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State—will be able to stuff their student sections, maintain stadium traditions and maybe even make a little money for doing so. 

“Our goal, our belief, and our expectation (is that it’s) going to sound like a Notre Dame home football game,” ND athletic director Pete Bevacqua said at a press conference this week. “It’s going to feel like a Notre Dame home football game.”

But there will be some differences, too. CFP organizers spent months establishing rules for the occasion. Standard sponsor placements visible on TV have been covered or replaced by national advertisers. The normally spare Notre Dame Stadium gridiron will include CFP logos on its turf, while the Fighting Irish home game is broadcast by ESPN for the first time since 1990.  

Where and when are the first-round CFP games?

Under the expanded format, the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth-seeded teams host first-round matchups (while the top four seeds get a bye to quarterfinal games hosted at Bowl sites). Here’s this weekend’s College Football Playoff schedule, starting Friday night:

How much are CFP tickets, and who sets the prices?

While the CFP initially intended to keep ticket prices the same as they normally are for season-ticket holders, that became too complicated given the various seat licenses and packages teams offer. Instead, flat rates were set from $100 to $250 for general seating (not including clubs and suites). Students could get tickets for $25 each.

The CFP retains all ticket revenue, which is then redistributed to conferences. 

How did schools prepare for potential home games?

Though some programs are normally superstitious about this kind of thing, administrators had to begin planning for potential home playoff games before the season even started. 

Penn State spent $4.5 million during recent renovations to Beaver Stadium to equip it for mid-December use, when water is normally shut off in the 64-year-old venue. The school also rescheduled its graduation, pushing it to Sunday to avoid a conflict, while keeping its dorms open an extra day to allow students to remain on campus.

Still, the busy weekend slate meant hotel rooms were scarce for out-of-towners hoping to attend Saturday’s game. 

Notre Dame similarly slid its exam schedule up to prevent overlap. 

“When the decision was made, we did have some isolated faculty comments about whether football should take precedence,” faculty athletics representative Patricia Bellia recently told Sports Illustrated. “But I would say the vast majority of faculty understood why we were doing it. These are completely uncharted waters.”

In Columbus, Ohio State has added space heaters for concession workers and put additional plumbers on its gameday crew to jump in if the cold weather causes any issues behind the scenes. 

According to CBS Sports, plans were actually made for potential playoff games on any of the 134 FBS campuses. Hotel rooms were reserved across the country far in advance for traveling teams and staff, with blocks released as teams were eliminated from playoff contention. Schools also had to present specific contingency plans around snow preparation and locker room heating strategies.

What are the benefits of hosting a home CFP game?

In theory, teams should benefit from home-field advantage this weekend, though visiting fan bases are likely to make themselves heard as well.

Financially, host programs get to keep parking and concession revenue, largely to offset those operating costs. Each host institution’s conference also receives a $3 million payment to cover game expenses, including lodging and security. 

Because the CFP handles ticketing, teams do not have free seats to distribute to recruits. Any potential future players will have to buy tickets themselves. 

“There are advantages (of playing at home),” Penn State coach James Franklin said recently. “But not as much of an advantage from a recruiting perspective as people may think, other than obviously really good players are still able to watch us continue to play this season.”