Title game preparations already underway for College Football Playoff at Hard Rock Stadium

College football’s premier event is accelerating toward Miami.

While fans are already calculating paths for their beloved teams to conquer the 2025 regular season and enter the College Football Playoff, those at the nerve center of the next national championship game — January 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium — gathered in Miami on Thursday to give a glimpse of what’s ahead.

Rich Clark, the new executive director of the College Football Playoff, came to Brownsville Middle School in Miami with several community leaders, including Orange Bowl chief executive officer Eric Poms, to share news about the upcoming title game, fan events surrounding it and how dozens of local schools such as Brownsville Middle have benefited.

With the backdrop of the College Football National Championship Trophy in the newly renovated innovation center at Brownsville Middle, Clark and Poms were accompanied by College Football Playoff Foundation executive director Britton Banowsky, Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent Jose Dotres and 2026 Miami host committee chairman Jack Seiler.

The Orange Bowl Committee, joined by government, tourism and corporate leaders, was the driving force behind the host committee’s efforts to win its bid to host the national title game. It’s the second year for the 12-team playoff format, which will include the playoff quarterfinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, also at Hard Rock Stadium.

“This is one of the great parts of the country that celebrates this sport, especially after 2021 during unprecedented challenges,’’ said Poms, who along with Clark, mentioned Miami being limited in the scope of its last CFP national title game in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Hard Rock capacity was capped at about 20%. “But as Rich Clark has captured, we pulled it off.”

Clark is the former superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy and three-star general who was a defensive lineman for Air Force and helped lead the Falcons to a 12-1 record and final No. 8 ranking his senior season in 1985. He acknowledged that the pandemic was “somewhat of a factor’’ in Miami being awarded the 2026 championship and that organizers “had to scale back a lot, like everybody in the country did at the time.”

“But the bigger factor was, even in COVID, this community did such a great job to make that game happen,’’ Clark said. “I know it’s going to be orders of magnitude better this year than it was even in that tough year of COVID. We’re very excited to be back and let Miami unleash and make it an incredible event.”

During the news conference, Banowsky announced the launching of a digital program called Miami Loves Teachers. He described the platform as “a place where teachers can go and get resources for their classroom; a place where they can go and be recognized; a place they can go and get tickets to events for free just to give them a sense of support and recognition.”

Said Dr. Dotres: “Sometimes you don’t see it, but just visualize this: College football investing in education, in teachers and in these learning spaces.”

Brownsville is one of at least 25 middle schools that have had media center renovations since the 2021 CFP National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium. Another 33 media center makeovers will be completed thanks to the 2026 title game. The Orange Bowl and its partners have committed more than $50 million to South Florida community improvements during the past two decades.

“The College Football Playoff Foundation really wants to leave a mark when we come here,’’ Clark said, “because it’s not just about the game. In our case, it’s about the teachers, it’s about the students, because they’re the people that make college football happen.”

Besides the fans fortunate enough to land tickets for the 2026 title game, more than 100,000 South Florida residents are expected to join thousands from around the country in attending fan events January 16-19.

On Thursday, fan-related plans were revealed for a “Championship Campus’’ experience that celebrates college football. Included will be the “Playoff Fan Central” at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which will be a free, interactive experience with games, clinics, pep rallies, autograph signings and college football history exhibits.

Also revealed: The popular Taste of the Championship culinary event will take place on Sunday night, January 18, the eve of the title game.

Clark said that during last season’s CFP championship game fan celebration in Atlanta, he kicked a 35-yard field goal as part of a skills test.

“I want to get on the ‘Pat McAfee Show’ and win $1 million dollars,’’ he joked. “There are so many things that our fans can take part in and feel like they’re part of this whole playoff event. The game is obviously the central element, but there are things around it that we want the community to enjoy, to feel like they’re part of the CFP.

“...When we leave, we want the community to remember that college football was here and it wasn’t just about the game.’’

This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM.