Valley could bid for football championship games
Sep 13, 2012, 6:41 AM | Updated: 6:42 am
PHOENIX — The bidding for sites to hold college football’s national championship games after 2014 is set to start in the fall.
Bowl Championship Series executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN he expected request for proposals to be sent to possible host cities.
College football will begin a playoff after the 2014 season, and Hancock expected the postseason cities to be set for the next 12 years in the spring of next year.
The Fiesta Bowl is one of six favorites expected to host a semifinal game on a rotating basis. Fiesta Bowl Executive Director Robert Shelton told 92.3 KTAR he thought the Fiesta will host a semifinal every three years.
Bids for the championship game are open to any city, and the process is much like bidding for a Super Bowl. Shelton is already talking about bringing a championship game to Glendale.
“I’m starting to have conversations with mayors, and with AZTA, the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, all of the key folks,” Shelton said. “I would be shocked if we didn’t all figure out how to come together and put a bid in.”
Shelton doesn’t think the Valley will bid for the first game.
“Not for the 2015 game, because we have the Super Bowl at that time,” Shelton said. “It might be farther down the road. It might be 2017 or 2018. But I’m not in a position to say ‘Yes, we’re definitely going to do this. It’s a point of discussion right now.”
