SBJ College: CFP Special Edition

I find Mercedes-Benz Superdome to be an ideal representation of New Orleans. No one would describe it as particularly nice, but the venue throws a great party. When it gets loud in this stadium, it’s as loud as anywhere I’ve been, which makes it a perfect site for this showdown.

Here is what's cooking in the Crescent City:

NEW ORLEANS FOR THE WIN

The Superdome was rocking early as fans filed in to watch LSU and Clemson warm up

• It’s gameday in the Big Easy. This is a special edition of SBJ College from New Orleans, where tonight the Tigers -- from either LSU or Clemson -- will be crowned the CFP national champions. As always, NOLA has been an ideal host for a major event, with its walkable downtown and easy proximity to all of the fan events -- a stark difference from last season when the game was in Santa Clara and fans were spread from San Francisco to San Jose. Overheard more than once this weekend: “I wish we could have the game here every year.”
  
  
• LSU’s homefield advantage has been a primary storyline leading up to tonight’s game. Not only do the Tigers benefit from close proximity to New Orleans, they also had the advantage of playing in the first of two semifinals on Dec. 28. By the time LSU’s rout of Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl was over, its fans had already started flooding the online CFP hospitality sales website. Packages were sold out in a matter of a few hours. Clemson won its semifinal against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl later that night, but by then, all of the CFP’s Playoff Premium packages were sold out and all 153 suites were gone. Colonnade Group Director of VIP Experiences Lori Robertson said Clemson fans were shut out because of the timing of the two games. “There just wasn’t anything left for Clemson,” she said.
  
  
• LSU is expected to dominate regular tickets as well. Clemson sold all 20,000 tickets in its allotment, which means it will have at least 27% of the 74,295 capacity at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Expect the other 70% and change to be drenched in LSU purple and gold. Too early to start thinking about next year's title game? Not really. CFP Senior Director of Marketing & Strategic Partnerships Alfred White said a waiting list already has been established for entertainment and hospitality products at the 2021 championship at Hard Rock Stadium outside Miami.

KEEPING THINGS IN GOOD HANDS

• Among the sponsors, the big winner of CFP weekend, based on my eyeball test, was Allstate. The insurance giant title-sponsored the CFP Championship Tailgate from Saturday through this afternoon and it became a huge gathering spot in the Jax Brewery lot next to Woldenberg Park on the New Orleans riverfront. ESPN’s main broadcast stage was on site there and Allstate benefited from tons of exposure in the background of those live shots. Allstate, like LSU, had a huge home field advantage in New Orleans, where the brand has title-sponsored the Sugar Bowl since 2006. The Jax Brewery lot has long been a favorite activation site for Pam Hollander, Dan Keats and the Allstate marketing team.
  
  
• Cheez-It and Mazda made their debut as CFP official sponsors this season, but Maui Jim was the hottest new sponsor of the CFP Fan Central space. The sunglasses brand definitely brought a cool factor to the football-centric fan fest. Disney ad sales manages the CFP sponsorship program.

Maui Jim brought a cool factor to CFP Fan Central

Dr Pepper used the CFP fan event to test out a new flavor

Fans were lining up for a Samsung activation involving the brand's QLED TV

Download the CFP sponsors

ESPN GOING ALL OUT FOR CFP FINALE

• ESPN has had the full blitz package in New Orleans for the CFP finale. More than 500 personnel have been in NOLA, including 60 analysts for radio and TV. The number grew tonight, when Nick Saban joined the pregame set at 6pm ET. ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro arrived in town today, joining other senior execs like Burke Magnus, Connor Schell, Tina Thornton, Norby Williamson, Stephanie Druley, Rosalyn Durant, Ryan Spoon and Laura Gentile. ESPN has had three set locations with five different sets while in town (Jax Brewery, Champions Square, Mercedes-Benz Superdome). 
  
  
• During the third break in the first quarter, Pitaro and CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock will be on the field to celebrate their partnership and the Extra Yard for Teachers Initiative. Hancock and Pitaro will be joined by teacher and student reps from New Orleans Public Schools and Jefferson Parish Schools to present them with an additional $100,000 in resources. The initiative has collectively invested approximately $30 million nationally.
  
  
• There will be four separate halftime shows tonight (ESPN, ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network). Part of what ESPN will be airing is a presentation around the 11 greatest players in college football history (part of ESPN's CFB 150 initiative). Nine of 11 players will be on hand or have family reps on hand for the ceremony, including the No. 1 player. Meanwhile, there is a nice homage to late ESPN college reporter Ed Aschoff in the intro for the game's telecast (around 7:57pm ET), which is narrated by Lil Wayne. In the video, the rapper is walking through a crowd and passes a man wearing a Florida Gators jersey with Aschoff's name (Aschoff was a UF alum). The idea for the jersey shoutout came from ESPN's Wright Thompson.

ESPN is paying homage to late reporter Ed Aschoff in tonight's CFP opening segment

CREATING A DESTINATION EVENT

• When the CFP launched, execs who work in college sports wondered if it might evolve into a major industry event like the Final Four. Most of the people I ran into over the weekend weren’t ready to rank it quite that high, but after six years it does border on being a must-attend event for business. That was evident last night at a 300-person event run by NACDA and sponsored by Learfield IMG College at The Jaxson. They followed that up this morning with a Leadership Summit that featured retiring UCLA AD Dan Guerrero. ESPN had its own industry party Saturday night at the Contemporary Arts Center with live music, heavy hors d’oeuvres, cigar rollers and, in true French Quarter fashion, palm readers.

Greg Brown (l) and Bob Vecchione hosted a dinner for around 300 guests last night

ROSTER SHAKEUP AT LEARFIELD IMG COLLEGE

• The biggest news circulating outside the Superdome was that Ray DeWeese has left Learfield IMG College. DeWeese, based in Columbus, formerly was GM of the Ohio State property before eventually running the Midwest region for IMG College as a Senior VP. Once Learfield and IMG College completed their merger a year ago, DeWeese was promoted again to Exec VP/Multimedia, where he oversaw the East, which accounts for about 50 schools. He was an SBJ "Forty Under 40" honoree in the 2015 class.
  
  
• DeWeese is planning to consult for the near future before determining his next move. Solly Fulp has replaced DeWeese and he now has oversight of the East region. Fulp, a veteran of the multimedia rights space, had been running point for the company’s Campus+ initiative that works with schools on campuswide marketing. Learfield IMG College is seeking someone to lead Campus+, the company said.

SPEED READS 

• Tonight’s game marks the first national championship for CFP Senior Director of Branding & Communications Brett Daniels. He's had previous stints with the Cowboys, Georgia Tech, the host committee for Super Bowl LIII and previous CFP games, so it’s hardly his first rodeo.

• A uniquely New Orleans run-in led to SEC Network’s Greg McElroy getting booked on The Athletic’s “Audible” podcast this weekend. The podcast, which Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman were recording live in NOLA on Saturday, had only landed McElroy the night before. So how did it all come about? Mandel: “Greg was booked, by me, at a blackjack table at Harrah’s last night.” McElroy responded: “The table heated up after he left.” Meanwhile, Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, Pete Thamel and SI’s Pat Forde took their podcast to the oldest psychic shop in the French Quarter to get a unique roundup of predictions.
  
  
• Over the past month, LSU QB Joe Burrow has been mentioned nearly 500,000 times on Twitter, led by a huge spike in conversation after his Heisman win on Dec. 14 (over 146,000 mentions), according to data from social media measurement outfit Fizziology. That tops Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, who has been mentioned 105,000 times in the past month, as well as Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa, who has been mentioned less than 100,000 times in the past 30 days despite his NFL announcement. In the last 30 days, Burrow has earned over 33,000 new followers on Twitter, while his Instagram presence is growing even faster, with over 160,000 new followers in that time frame.
  
  
• What kind of viewership should ESPN expect tonight? Clemson has been in three of the five CFP title games, and none of those games have topped 27 million viewers. The other two -- Alabama over Georgia and Ohio State over Oregon -- each topped 28 million viewers.

Download the CFP Championship Viewers

• How did LSU land Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for their last hype video posted to social this morning? Before Miami Hurricanes fans panic, know that the connection does indeed go back to Johnson's days as a defensive lineman in Coral Gables. His position coach at the time? None other than Ed Orgeron. Johnson wrote on Twitter this morning, "He taught me a lot -- lessons that I’d finally understand years later as a man."
  
  
• Facebook’s Nick Marquez and Instagram’s Will Yoder created the first IG TV Playmakers program, which highlights social media work done by college students for team Instagram accounts. The students, who represented Clemson, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon, were paired with mentors who already work in sports to help sharpen their skills in capturing content. The program culminated yesterday inside CFP Fan Central with a film festival. The students whose work was highlighted at the film festival also are creating content for the @CFBplayoff Instagram account.
  
  
• During a morning meeting I had with Oregon AD Rob Mullens, who also serves as chair of the CFP selection committee, we were joking about his newfound celebrity status from all of the TV appearances he made during ESPN’s weekly rankings shows. Just then, a young boy pointed at Mullens and told his father that he’s the selection committee guy. The boy, decked out in Clemson gear, recognized Mullens from those weekly rankings shows and got a picture with him.
  
  

Oregon AD Rob Mullens with a Clemson fan that recognized him in the Hyatt lobby

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Something on the College beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).