The Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl will host the first college football playoff semifinals on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, BCS conference commissioners have announced.
The AT&T Cotton Bowl is said to be the “prohibitive favorite” to host the first national title game, which will feature a match-up between the winners of the two semifinal games. It would be played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington on Monday, Jan. 12, 2015.
According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, this is how the national semifinal rotation sets up:
Rose & Sugar – 2015, 2018, 2021, 2024
Orange & TBA – 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025
TBA & TBA – 2017, 2020, 2023, 2026
The three bowl games that will also host future semifinal games have yet to be selected, but various sources expect them to be the Chick-fil-A Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl.
The national championship game will be bid out each year to any city interested in hosting the game, which is similar to how the NFL sells the Super Bowl.
Listed below is the rotation for the playoffs beginning after the 2014 regular season and continuing through the 2025 season.
| Year | Host Bowls and National Semifinals | Championship Game |
| 2014-15 | Wed., Dec. 31 and Thurs., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 12 |
| 2015-16 | Thurs., Dec. 31 and Fri., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 11 |
| 2016-17 | Sat., Dec. 31 and Mon., Jan. 2 | Mon., Jan. 9 |
| 2017-18 | Sat., Dec. 30 and Mon., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 8 |
| 2018-19 | Mon., Dec. 31 and Tues., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 7 |
| 2019-20 | Tues., Dec. 31 and Wed., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 13 |
| 2020-21 | Thurs., Dec. 31 and Fri., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 11 |
| 2021-22 | Fri., Dec. 31 and Sat., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 10 |
| 2022-23 | Sat., Dec. 31 and Mon., Jan. 2 | Mon., Jan. 9 |
| 2023-24 | Sat., Dec. 30 and Mon., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 8 |
| 2024-25 | Tues., Dec. 31 and Wed., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 13 |
| 2025-26 | Wed., Dec. 31 and Thurs., Jan. 1 | Mon., Jan. 12 |
The Cotton Bowl is not hosting the championship game. Cowboys Stadium is hosting the championship. The Cotton Bowl will be played separately on January 1.
How do we know the Cotton Bowl will be Jan. 1? Orange, Rose & Sugar will be Jan.1.
I only know because Brett McMurphy specifically tweeted me, and he’s usually right about that kind of stuff.
So what bowl will move if the Cotton is on Jan.1?
I was hoping the Championship would have moved to a weekend night when the NFL is not having a playoff game.
Geez, I thought they were looking to reduce the length of the college football season…. now we’re going into mid-January!
They wanted to the meaning back to New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, which they are! It’s only 7 to 10 days from semi’s to title game. That is a huge change.