College Football Playoff at Neyland Stadium and new Titans stadium in Nashville? Josh Heupel approves

KINGSPORT, Tenn. – A College Football Playoff game for Tennessee football at Neyland Stadium or in Nashville's soon-to-be built Tennessee Titans stadium sounds almost too good to be true.

But it’s not farfetched, and Vols coach Josh Heupel likes both possibilities.

Beginning in the 2024 season, the CFP will expand to 12 teams with first-round games at campus sites. The schedules for the 2024 and 2025 playoffs were released this week.

Tennessee would’ve hosted Kansas State in a first-round game at Neyland Stadium last season if the CFP had already been expanded. Alabama would’ve hosted Southern Cal.

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The CFP is coming to SEC stadiums soon, and Heupel is all for it.

"As the playoff expands, I think it's a unique and great opportunity to have a host site that's on campus for the first round," Heupel said at a Big Orange Caravan stop on Wednesday. "In some ways, it rewards teams that have earned that home-field advantage."

And Heupel loves the idea that Nashville is trying to land a future CFP game to the Tennessee Titans' $2.1 billion stadium, which is expected to open by 2027.

“Nashville is a premier city,” Heupel said. "It would be a great host site for the CFP."

First, the CFP will bring first-round games to campus sites, which undoubtedly will include SEC stadiums.

Since 2017, almost two SEC teams per year would’ve hosted first-round games if the expanded playoff format had been in place, CBSSports.com reported. And about three or four SEC teams per year should make the playoff, judging by past seasons.

If Tennessee can contend in the top quarter of the SEC, like it did last season, it will be in the playoff mix.

How Tennessee could host CFP game

The CFP will remain a four-team bracket in 2023, but it will expand to 12 teams a year later.

In 2024, one CFP first-round game will be played on Friday, Dec. 20. The other three first-round games will be played on Saturday, Dec. 21, notably the same day as some NFL regular-season games.

In the 12-team playoff format, the top six conference champions will get automatic bids. And the six at-large bids will go to the highest ranked remaining teams in the CFP poll.

The top four ranked conference champions will get a first-round bye. And then the No. 5-8 seeds will host No. 9-12 seeds at their campus sites in the first round.

For Tennessee to host a CFP game at Neyland Stadium, the Vols would need to be the second or third best team in the SEC.

That will become increasingly difficult when Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC in 2024. But it’s still an attainable goal if Heupel can keep the Vols on an upward trajectory.

New Titans stadium built with CFP game in mind

Now imagine Tennessee winning a first-round playoff game in Neyland Stadium and traveling down Interstate 40 to Nashville for a game later in the same bracket.

That could happen too, albeit a few years down the road.

“(Nashville) is a premier city in our country," Heupel said. "And people being able to go (to Nashville) and have a great experience outside of the sporting event itself, that makes it a natural spot to be able to host a CFP game."

Last week, Nashville’s council approved a $2.1 billion new stadium for the Titans.

Butch Spyridon, CEO of Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, said he’s already met with Byron Hatch, the COO of the CFP, about trying to host a CFP national title game. Nashville could be considered for a future quarterfinal or semifinal game, if they become available when the CFP media rights are renegotiated in 2026.

The new Titans stadium will be enclosed, which was a strategic decision to land the Super Bowl, Final Four and CFP in Nashville.

“Right now, (the CFP is) not going to come to a Mid-South, open-air, natural grass facility in mid-January (like Nissan Stadium, the Titans’ current stadium),” Scott Ramsey, president/CEO of the Nashville Sports Council and Music City Bowl, said in November.

“They just don’t want the national championship game to be dictated by inclement weather, which I understand.”

How Nashville could host CFP game

Nashville is like a second home field for Tennessee fans.

In 2021, Tennessee lost to Purdue in the Music City Bowl amid an orange-clad crowd of 69,489, the highest attendance in the bowl’s history. Only the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl, a CFP game, had higher attendance figures among all bowls that season.

And the Vols will play Virginia at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium to open the 2023 season. So Tennessee would welcome any possibility of playing a CFP game in its home state.

But to host a CFP game, Nashville would have to earn a spot in an exclusive club of bowls.

In the expanded playoff, quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played at bowl sites. The national championship game also will be at a neutral site.

In the 2024 season, the quarterfinals will be at the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls. The semifinals will be at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl. The national title game will be at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

In the 2025 season, the quarterfinals will be at the Cotton, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls. The semifinals will be at the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl. The national title game will be at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, where Tennessee beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl in December.

For now, those traditional bowls have a stranglehold on the quarterfinal and semifinal games. Nashville could only crack the rotation if the CFP makes a spot available in its ultra-lucrative media rights deal in 2026.

But the Vols could earn a CFP home game at Neyland Stadium by winning their way into the bracket.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. Twitter @AdamSparks. Nick Suss and Mike Organ of The Tennessean contributed to this report. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.   

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: CFP at Neyland Stadium and in Nashville? Josh Heupel approves