In the glittering heart of the desert, amidst the neon-blazed skyline of Las Vegas, Derek Stevens, the visionary founder and CEO of Circa, casts his gaze upon the future of college football with a daring proposition. With the grandeur and audacity that mirrors the city he champions, Stevens asserts that Las Vegas is a deserving and strategic choice as one of the inaugural hosts for the first round of the resolutely expanded College Football Playoff (CFP).
Embracing change with the new 12-team playoff bracket format, the CFP is charting a fresh course for collegiate athletics. The top four seeded teams are poised to gracefully bypass the opening skirmishes, advancing to the quarterfinals, while eight other formidable contenders will lock horns in a series of decisive battles scheduled to commence in the wake of the winter solstice.
In the past week, Stevens lent his voice to the Vegas Sports Information Network (VSiN), bringing to the table both insight and caution. He speaks of the romance of playoff games gracing the college campuses, draped in the allure of tradition, yet unmasks the potential trials they may unwittingly usher in—economically and climactically.
“Everybody loves the thought ‘OK, Notre Dame is going to play at home the week before Christmas,’” intoned Stevens on VSiN, invoking iconic institutions, steeped in history like Ohio State or Michigan, “But you’ve got issues with stadiums, with turf, with student bodies.”
Stevens, draped in the loyalty of his Michigan roots and unwavering commitment to his alma mater, knows all too well the herculean challenge of marshaling the masses into ‘the Big House’, especially when the halls of academia echo with silence during the holiday exodus.
Beyond his association with Circa, Stevens’s influence extends to the illustrious D Las Vegas and the venerable Golden Gate, further intertwining his fate with the pulsating rhythm of downtown Las Vegas. Critics might muse on self-interest coloring his advocacy, yet his conviction in Las Vegas as a credible and potent force amongst the quartet of cities to host the first round CFP games runs deep.
Allegiant Stadium, embraced by the city’s fervor and home to the valiant NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, earns its place alongside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, in Stevens’s envisioned lineup to host the monumental CFP contests.
With a seasoned hand in hosting college football clashes, Allegiant Stadium’s hallowed ground, as the terrain for both UNLV and the celebrated Las Vegas Bowl, becomes a bastion for the future where fans could rally under the starlit desert sky.
In February, Las Vegas welcomed the Super Bowl into its vibrant embrace, with an economic torrent estimated to exceed $1 billion, enriching the city with prosperous flows of wages and salaries. While a CFP game may not unfurl riches of such magnificence, Stevens perceives the profound impact, a boon where soaring hotel rates and the influx of patrons could swell the tides of gaming, dining, and revelry.
As the threads of fate continue to knit the future of college football, the NCAA has yet to raise the curtain on the discourse of neutral site plays for the inaugural quartet of CFP games. Still, in the unyielding spirit of Las Vegas, hope shimmers like a coin flip mid-air, where every chance could herald a new era of glory.
