CFP National Championship Game future locations in 2025, 2026 and beyond

Through the first 10 years of the College Football Playoff, we have seen six different programs win at least one national title. In the four-team format, Alabama won three (2015, 2017, 2020), Clemson won two (2016, 2018), Georgia won two (2021-22), and Ohio State (2014), LSU (2019) and Michigan (2023) all won one apiece. But what most people do not realize is every title bout was at a different venue.

Although the Rose Bowl has yet to host a national championship game in this current format, the five other New Year's Six bowl venues have all held the event at least once before. Some of those stadiums may have gone by a different name then, but the homes of the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach and Sugar Bowls have all hosted one. Even Los Angeles got a game over in SoFi back in 2022.

Along with SoFi in Greater Los Angeles, we have seen national championships be held at non-NY6 venues at five other times. It has been to Tampa, the Bay Area, Indianapolis and most recently Houston. To date, the only event that was not up to standard was in Santa Clara, because, of course, it was going to be a bad time. Where are the next national championship games being held at anyway?

College Football Playoff National Championship Game locations for 2025 and 2026

We are getting our first pair of repeats with the game going to Atlanta next year and Miami after that!

• 2024-25: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA)
• 2025-26: Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, FL)

Just in case you thought Atlanta was not ready for hosting another big football event, think again!

Not to be outdone, the College Football Playoff will be going back to Greater Miami in for 2025-26.

At this time, the national championship game location has not been revealed for the 2026-27 season.

In my opinion, they should just make the Rose Bowl the national championship game location every year, but that would be too easy. Old traditions held most sacred by the Big Ten and a former Power Five league that does not even exist anymore has gummed up way too much for me to fully unpack at this time. It is Valentine's Day, and I want to be in a good mood. No need to rip on the Rose Bowl now.

What is important is that CFP learned its lesson by going to Santa Clara. That was a huge mistake and they should never go back. The stadium was too far away from anything, located in a region of the country that really doesn't care about college football. SoFi was a bit of a mess too, but that had more to do with TCU fans getting rained on while defending national champion Georgia obliterated them.

Going back to Atlanta and Miami are great ideas. Atlanta is the college football capital of the world, so playing next year's title bout at Mercedes-Benz Stadium goes without saying. I would also say that going to Miami in two years is fantastic because the only time Hard Rock Stadium held the game was during COVID with limited capacity. This is a way to make up for putting South Florida in a tough spot.

As far a future locations are concerned, I am not opposed to seeing it go back to previous venues.