College Football Playoff locations: CFP National Championship headed to Las Vegas in 2027, per report

The 2027 College Football Playoff National Championship is expected to take place in Las Vegas where a national champion for the 2026 season will be crowned, according to The Action Network. The decision has not yet been made official by the College Football Playoff, but “Sin City” playing host to the game is reportedly a “lock.” 

Las Vegas will be the 11th site to host a CFP National Championship and the fourth in the Western part of the United States. Others include Los Angeles, Phoenix and the Bay Area. The 2025 and 2026 title games are set for Atlanta and Miami, respectively, both of which represent returns to previous title game sites. 

Many aspects attracted the CFP to Las Vegas, headlined by the pristine Allegiant Stadium, which opened in 2020. The city boasts cheap travel and nearly unlimited hotels and venues, making logistics far easier. The Super Bowl traveled to Allegiant Stadium for Super Bowl LVIII in February, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs topple the San Francisco 49ers in a 25-22 thriller. The 2028 Men’s Final Four will also take place in Las Vegas.

The CFP hoped to land in Vegas for the 2025 title game, according to the report. However, Vegas hosts the massive Consumer Electronics Show, a major event in the city that brings 200,000 people and gobbles up hotel rooms. The expanded College Football Playoff should bring more flexibility around the dates. 

The Las Vegas site comes with some controversy due to the city’s history with gambling. College athletics has been dealing with the rise in gambling over the past several seasons, headlined by a group of Iowa and Iowa State players getting suspended for gambling on their own teams in 2023. NCAA president Charlie Baker has loudly come out in support of eliminating prop betting on college athletes. 

All levels of sports have slowly started to come around to Vegas as a destination, however. The location boasts both NFL (Raiders) and WNBA (Aces) franchises and is expected to add MLB’s Athletic’s in the coming years. The Pac-12 and Mountain West have also played conference championship games in Vegas, and the Big 12 plans to host its 2024 media days in “Sin City.”

While Las Vegas is almost finalized, sites for the following three years are still under negotiation, according to the report. The Vegas title game will represent the first under the new television contract, which kicks off during the 2026 season. The format for the College Football Playoff field has not been decided but will include at least 12 teams.