The official announcement that Las Vegas will host the 2027 College Football Playoff championship game was made Friday with a magical moment.
Strip headlining magician Shin Lim was featured in a video announcing the game, scheduled for Jan. 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium. Lim did a visually enhanced card trick, which led to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign being lit up and transformed to read “Welcome 2027 National Championship.”
“College football fans across the country are going to be thrilled to hear this news today,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said in a statement. “Las Vegas has shown the world they have amazing venues and boundless energy to host an event like the College Football Playoff national championship in spectacular fashion. I can’t think of a better stage to crown the best team in college football in 2027.”
Getting the college football title game has been a goal of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill since the early days of meetings that led to the Raiders relocating to the city and the construction of Allegiant Stadium.
The LVCVA approved a contract of up to $40 million this month to host a college football championship game.
Different crowd than Super Bowl
Hill, who attended the national championship game Monday in Atlanta and has been to multiple Super Bowls, including the 2024 game at Allegiant Stadium, said the two games feature different crowds.
“It’s an atmosphere that is really hard to replicate for any other event,” Hill said. “The teams that are in the games get a lot of tickets, and they (fan bases) usually travel really well. So you get that college feel to the game throughout the entire game.”
With fans typically having greater access to tickets to the CFP national championship game compared to the Super Bowl, the fan bases of the teams involved are more prevalent, Hill said.
At Monday’s game, when Ohio State defeated Notre Dame 34-23 in the culmination of the first 12-team playoff, Hill said half of Mercedes-Benz Stadium was green and half was red.
“It’s 35,000 people on each side, just being loud cheering,” Hill said. “Both the college bands were there, and you get that college football spirit at a national championship game. It’s just really hard to replicate any place else.”
The 2026 CFP championship game will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Pursuing marquee events
Las Vegas will host the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in 2028. When that happens, it will become the sixth city to host a Super Bowl, CFP championship game and Final Four, according to Lisa Motley, vice president of sports and special events with the LVCVA.
“It’s certainly our goal to land marquee events each year, and the college football national championship is certainly one of those marquee events,” Hill said. “There aren’t that many of those, and we’ve been very fortunate here and the city has shown what it could do, and it makes it an easy sell. But it’s not something we should take for granted, because there are very few cities that have the opportunity to host the college football national championship.”
The LVCVA hosted members of the CFP group at the 2024 Super Bowl.
“They came and saw what the city was completely capable of,” Hill said. “Super Bowl was just a fantastic event, and to be able to show the world what we’re capable of matters. Now they’re (CFP) counting on us to do that for them.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.