Only six cities “will be considered” as the site of the first national championship game to be played Jan. 15, 2015 under the newly developed four-team playoff system, according to sources cited by Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com. The four current BCS bowls -- the Fiesta in Glendale, Ariz., Orange in Miami, Sugar in New Orleans and Rose in Pasadena -- along with the Cotton (Arlington) and Chick-fil-A (Atlanta) bowls -- will be "the only sites that will have the opportunity to host the 2015 title game.” The BCS commissioners “originally planned to open the bidding to any city interested in submitting a request for proposal for the title game.” But considering the “challenges involved with hosting the game, and because it is only 28 months away, the commissioners felt the need to move quickly on naming the site.” A decision is “expected to be announced early next year.” Meanwhile, Atlanta and Arlington, along with Houston and San Antonio, are “in the running to host" the newly created Big 12-SEC Champions Bowl. New Orleans also is “in the running for that game, and is considered one of the favorites to land it, along with Arlington” (ESPN.com, 9/24). The AP noted the current BCS games are “about to enter an exclusive negotiating period.” BCS Exec Dir Bill Hancock yesterday in a statement said that the commissioners “will begin talking to those organizers from those games immediately" about potentially hosting the ’15 championship game. The plan “still calls for open bidding to determine the sites of subsequent title games.” Hancock "did not specify when a site for the first national championship game in the new format will be announced.” But he said it would be "moving ahead over the next few weeks" (AP, 9/24).
