College Football Playoff an Extra Boost to Home Teams

As the final weeks of the college football regular season wound down, destinations across the country were watching with more interest than previous years knowing four cities would host first-round games in the expanded College Football Playoff.

The four teams that received home games December 20–21 are Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Texas. Those four schools feature more than two dozen combined national championships and four of the most iconic home fields in the sport.

And the other thing they all have in common: Happy tourism offices.

“It’s definitely going to be a win for the four cities involved this weekend,” said Drew Hays, director of the Austin Sports Commission.

South Bend to Make More History

There are few places in the sport that rival Notre Dame Stadium. After the Irish defeated USC 49–35 on November 30 to finish the season 11-1 and clinch a home game, it was clear which game ESPN would choose to put in primetime on Friday night for the first CFP campus game in history.

The seventh-seeded Irish will host in-state rival and 10th seed Indiana under the eyes of Touchdown Jesus and the rest of the country.

“It’s not really anything that you can pay for,” said Jeff Jarnecke, executive director of Visit South Bend Mishawaka. “The idea that everyone at that moment in time is focused on South Bend, we will shine as bright, if not brighter, than we ever have before. And the things that we’re working on, not only with our campus partners, but around the community from the time that you step off the plane to the time that you depart, it’s going to look and feel different than it ever has in our community.”

For a typical home game in the regular season, Notre Dame draws an estimated $17 million in total economic impact to South Bend and $27 million total when you include neighboring counties. South Bend only has 5,300 hotel rooms and 1,400 homes available for rent on sites like Airbnb, so the surrounding area sees plenty of business as well.

“We informed our hotels to be mindful of the potential (CFP) committee decision all the way back in February to make sure that our hotel partners were ready,” Jarnecke said. “We wanted them to largely save the date, but certainly no guarantees that this would happen. We wanted them to be ready to provide as many rooms as they can.”

Hotel rooms for the Ohio State game last year were going for as high as $1,500. Short term rentals were going for, anecdotally, tens of thousands of dollars. Notre Dame sits in a unique situation in the new CFP. Only the top four conference champions can secure a first-round bye, meaning Notre Dame could host more playoff games in the future.

“We love Notre Dame,” Jarnecke said. “The university is the number one tourist attraction in the city of South Bend and the number one reason for visitation to St. Joseph County. The idea that we can get that additional home game and especially in the month of December is huge from a visitation standpoint.”

Happy Valley Extra Happy with Home Game

Sometimes fans can find a silver lining in defeat. As Penn State mounted a rally against top-seeded Oregon but ultimately fell short in the Big Ten Championship game, the Nittany Lions fell out of contention for a first-round bye, which hurt Eric Engelbarts from a fan perspective.

From a business perspective, the executive director at the Happy Valley Sports and Entertainment Alliance had mixed emotions.

“You never really know how you’re going to react until you go through it,” he said. “It’s kind of a win-win no matter what — as a fan I will say the sting didn’t go away that night. It didn’t really go away until the staff meeting on Monday morning when it was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to get serious.’ But this is big business for the area. So we allowed ourselves a 24-hour grace period to be a fan. And then when you’re at work on Monday, it’s time to go.”

Happy Valley has 3,000 hotel rooms and hundreds of rental properties. However, Beaver Stadium can seat about 110,000 people for a massive game like when Penn State will host SMU on Saturday afternoon. The math doesn’t quite add up on those numbers, which has led to some astronomical room rates for the weekend. Some properties have a two-night minimum that run as high as $1,500 per night.

“When we hosted the Michigan game last year, the announced attendance was over 110,000 and our daily room rate was up over $700 per room,” Engelbarts said. “We had a total estimated economic impact of over $21 million, with $15 million coming from direct spending.”

The accommodations market was already thin before the CFP schedule was announced. This weekend is Winter Graduation at Penn State, meaning many people booked rooms months ago at regular prices, creating a perfect storm for those trying to find a place to sleep now.

But the Happy Valley region is not going to complain during a time when tourism is typically slow.

“Don’t get me wrong … personally, we wish that we would have won the Big 10 championship and then would be sitting here with a bye,” Engelbarts said. “But professionally, for our area and state in general, I think it’s something special to be able to showcase what Happy Valley can do.”

Busy Weekend at Slow Time in Austin

Having spent most of the CFP rankings in position to secure a bye, losing in the SEC championship game to Georgia shifted Texas football into the first round with a home game against Clemson — the first December home game in Longhorns history.

But in Austin, even as the Longhorns went through the regular season with a projected bye, the preparation was being done behind the scenes with hotels being informed about the potential scenarios and to make sure of staffing needs.

“We want Texas to be successful and have the easiest path as possible,” Hays said. He also admitted “in a month when Austin needs business, the weekend before Christmas, you couldn’t ask for a better scenario from a business standpoint.”

The numbers are already showcasing the interest in Austin, which has had several big weekends already this fall. Hays said as of Monday, the ADR for year-over-year is up 21 percent, paid occupancy is up 90 percent and revenue is up over 100 percent. There have already been noticeable booking increases from markets including North Carolina, Nashville and Atlanta, home of big Clemson followings.

“You can see how big of a matchup this is not only in the college football landscape in general but the city of Austin,” Hays said. With the holiday weekend usually so slow, “this alone is going to do wonders for our hotel community, not only downtown but city-wide.”

Texas’ kickoff (3:30 p.m. local time) also helps the overnight market with the shorter days of sunlight, making more people feel like sticking in town for a nightcap or three and going home in the morning if coming from out of town. There’s also the ability for Austin residents to have a home game before potentially traveling the rest of the playoff to see the Longhorns; the winner of Texas-Clemson plays Arizona State in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

“Are you going to take that risk and see if UT makes the national championship game (also in Atlanta) or will you go to all the games?” Hays said. “Depending on your budget, that may be a heavy price tag. There’s more scenarios, there’s more opportunities for fan bases to be in this position than in years past. If you’re a college football fan I don’t think there’s a product in the past that beats this 12 team playoff.”

Columbus Looks to Rebound as CFP Host

Ask anybody in Columbus and they’ll tell you no amount of money will make it less painful when they lose to “That team up North.”

The Buckeyes were poised to play Oregon in the Big Ten title game for a shot at a first-round bye. But then the unthinkable happened — a home loss to Michigan in the regular season finale as a three-touchdown favorite.

Now, the 8th-seeded Buckeyes will host No. 9 Tennessee at Ohio Stadium on Saturday night to cap the first round.

“I’m an optimistic person and I see an upside in everything,” said Jesse Ghiorzi, director of marketing for the Greater Columbus Sports Commission. “Having the opportunity to have an extra home game and do something historic in Columbus — Ohio Stadium just celebrated its 100th anniversary two years ago and it’s never hosted a December home game — is a real neat opportunity and one that we’re excited to have in Columbus.”

Hotel rooms will not be a problem for Tennessee fans making the six-hour drive from Knoxville. Columbus has nearly 30,000 rooms, which means a room can be had for just over $100 per night. But even with low lodging prices, Columbus still estimates around $12 million in direct visitor spending this weekend.

“December’s typically a downtime for Columbus tourism and sports tourism,” Ghiorzi said. “So anytime we can get a piece of December business like this, it’s incredible, especially in this instance where it was not an event that we bid on or that we knew was coming. It’s a real nice boost to the restaurants and shops and hotels here late in the year.”

Ohio State is third all-time in the history of college football in wins and Tennessee is 11th. But they’ve only played once, a 20–14 Vols win in the 1996 Citrus Bowl.

“We’re absolutely excited to welcome visitors to Columbus and we expect a good bit of creamsicle to be around the University District and downtown,” Ghiorzi said. “We’re working closely with our partners at Ohio State to try to really roll out the red carpet and make it feel like as big of an event as one that we have a year or two of advance notice. In this case, we had just 11 days, but because of all the great partnerships, we’re able to fast-track some things around the city.”