College Football

College football playoffs: Fiesta, Cotton, Chick-Fil-A Bowl hosting semifinal games

The three sites join the Rose, Sugar, and Orange Bowls in the playoff semifinal rotation.

By Peter Berkes Apr 23, 2013, 10:11pm EDT

The Fiesta, Cotton, and Chick-fil-A Bowls will be the other three sites to host the College Football Playoff semifinals, according to ESPN's Brett McMurphy. The three sites have been heavy favorites to join the Rose, Sugar, and Orange Bowls since those three were announced in January, but it wasn't official until the conference commissioners voted on it in Pasadena this week. Those three sites all submitted bids earlier this spring to host semifinal games, along with San Diego.

Cowboys Stadium will get 1st title game; Fiesta, Cotton, Chick-fil-A get semifinal bowls. Official announcement Wed
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) April 24, 2013

The six sites will host semifinal games on a rotating basis, giving each site a game every three years, starting on New Year's Day 2015. The Rose and Sugar Bowls are up first. It isn't yet clear which of these three will join the Orange Bowl in the 2016 cycle, and which two will be the 2017 bowls, but that presumably will be part of Wednesday's presser.

The playoff championship game will be played a week later, with the host site being awarded via a bidding process. News had already broken that Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas would host the first championship game on Jan. 12, 2015, and now that, too, is almost official.

The conference commissioners are not totally done with playoff planning, however. The playoff selection committee still needs to be finalized in terms of makeup and size. Those details will be announced later in the week.